Shloka 309
इस प्रकार श्रीमह्याभारत वनपर्वके अन्तर्गत कुण्डलाहरणपर्वमें राधाको कर्णकी प्राप्तिविषयक तीन सौ नवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ
iti prakāraḥ śrīmahābhārate vanaparvaṇi antar-gate kuṇḍalāharaṇaparvaṇi rādhāyāḥ karṇasya prāptiviṣayakaḥ trīśat-navamaḥ adhyāyaḥ pūrṇaḥ
Thus ends the three hundred and ninth chapter of the Mahābhārata’s Vana Parva, within the episode of the ‘Abduction of the Earrings’, dealing with how Rādhā came to have Karṇa. This closing colophon signals the completion of a narrative unit that frames Karṇa’s origins and identity—an ethical backdrop for later choices shaped by loyalty, gratitude, and the burdens of fate.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
As a chapter-ending colophon, the verse itself teaches indirectly: it frames Karṇa’s life-story as ethically significant—his later decisions are to be read against questions of identity, gratitude, loyalty, and the constraints of destiny.
The narrator (Vaiśampāyana) marks the conclusion of Adhyāya 309 within Vana Parva, specifying that this chapter concerned Rādhā’s obtaining/receiving of Karṇa, and that it belongs to the Kuṇḍalāharaṇa episode.