Shloka 295
Yakṣa-saṃvāda: Yudhiṣṭhira’s Interrogation at the Guarded Water
इति श्रीमहा भारते वनपर्वणि पतिव्रतामाहात्म्यपर्वणि सावितरयुपाख्याने पज्चनवत्यधिकद्धिशततमो<ध्याय:
iti śrīmahābhārate vanaparvaṇi pativratāmāhātmyaparvaṇi sāvitryupākhyāne pañcanavatyadhika-dviśatatamo 'dhyāyaḥ
Thus, in the revered Mahābhārata, within the Vana Parva, in the section extolling the greatness of devoted wives (pativratā), in the sub-narrative of Sāvitrī, ends the two-hundred-and-ninety-fifth chapter (i.e., the 295th adhyāya). This is a concluding colophon that frames the episode as an ethical exemplum celebrating steadfast marital fidelity and dharma.
इुमत्सेन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The colophon signals that the Sāvitrī episode is presented as a dharmic exemplar: the narrative’s ethical emphasis is the glory of pativratā-dharma—steadfast fidelity, moral resolve, and devotion upheld as a source of spiritual power and social virtue.
This line is not part of the spoken dialogue but an editorial/recensional closing formula. It marks the end of an adhyāya within the Vana Parva, specifically within the Pativratā-māhātmya section and the embedded tale (upākhyāna) of Sāvitrī.