Shloka 252

Draupadī-apaharaṇa-saṃdeśaḥ

Report of Draupadī’s Abduction and the Pāṇḍavas’ Pursuit

Devanagari script

इति श्रीमहाभारते वनपर्वणि घोषयात्रापर्वणि दुर्योधनपुरप्रवेशे द्विपज्चाशदधिकद्धिशततमो<5ध्याय:

Transliteration

iti śrīmahābhārate vanaparvaṇi ghoṣayātrāparvaṇi duryodhanapurapraveśe dvipañcāśadadhika-dviśatatamo 'dhyāyaḥ

Translation

Thus ends, in the Śrī Mahābhārata, within the Vana Parva, the section known as the Ghoṣa-yātrā Parva, the chapter describing Duryodhana’s entry into the city—being the two-hundred-and-fifty-second chapter (with an additional fifty, i.e., 252).

Word by Word

इतिthus; end-quote marker

श्रीमहाभारतेin the auspicious Mahābhārata

वनपर्वणिin the Vana-parvan (Forest Book)

घोषयात्रापर्वणिin the Ghoṣa-yātrā-parvan (section on the cattle-camp expedition)

दुर्योधनपुरप्रवेशेin (the episode of) Duryodhana's entry into the city

द्विपञ्चाशत्fifty-two

अधिकadditional; exceeding

द्विशततमःtwo-hundredth

अध्यायःchapter

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Śrī Mahābhārata

Vana Parva

Ghoṣa-yātrā Parva

Duryodhana

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

This line functions as a colophon: it teaches attentiveness to textual structure and context—marking where an episode concludes and how it is situated within the larger ethical narrative of the Mahābhārata.

What is happening in the narrative?

The verse is not narrative action but a formal closing: it signals the end of the chapter/section dealing with Duryodhana’s entry into the city within the Ghoṣa-yātrā episode of the Vana Parva.