Shloka 15
Damayantī’s Recognition by the Piplū Mark and Her Return to Vidarbha
यत्कृते चासि निकृतो दुःखेन महता नल । विषेण स मदीयेन त्वयि दुःखं निवत्स्यति,“महाराज नल! जिस कलियुगके कपटसे आपको महान् दुःखका सामना करना पड़ा है, वह मेरे विषसे दग्ध होकर आपके भीतर बड़े कष्टसे निवास करेगा
yatkṛte cāsi nikṛto duḥkhena mahatā nala | viṣeṇa sa madīyena tvayi duḥkhaṃ nivatsyati ||
O King Nala, because of whom you were deceived and made to suffer such great misery—he (Kali) will now, scorched by my poison, dwell within you in pain. Thus the very force that brought you anguish is constrained to remain in you under torment, signaling a moral reversal: deceit and adharma do not escape consequence.
ब॒हदश्व उवाच
Educational Q&A
Adharma—here embodied by Kali’s deceit—ultimately rebounds upon the wrongdoer. Even when a virtuous person suffers due to trickery, the narrative affirms moral causality: the agent of suffering is made to endure suffering, indicating the inevitability of ethical consequence.
Bṛhadaśva explains to Nala that the very being responsible for Nala’s deception and misery (Kali) will, due to the speaker’s poison, remain lodged within Nala while experiencing torment—marking a turning point where Kali’s influence is checked and begins to be neutralized.