Shloka 6
Pāṇḍu’s Marriages, Conquests, and Triumphal Return (पाण्डोर्विवाह-विजय-प्रत्यागमनम्)
तस्मान्निशम्य सत्यं मे कुरुष्व यदनन्तरम् । (यस्तु राजा वसुर्नाम श्रुतस्ते भरतर्षभ । तस्य शुक्रादहं मत्स्याद् धृता कुक्षौ पुरा किल ।।
tasmān niśamya satyaṃ me kuruṣva yad anantaram | (yas tu rājā vasur nāma śrutas te bharatarṣabha | tasya śukrād ahaṃ matsyād dhṛtā kukṣau purā kila || mātaraṃ me jalād dhṛtvā dāśaḥ paramadharmavit | māṃ tu svagṛham ānīya duhitṛtve hy akalpayat || dharmayuktasya dharmārtha pitur āsīt tarī mama ||)
「ゆえに、わたしの真実の語りを聞いたのち、なすべきことをなしてください。バーラタの雄牛よ、あなたはヴァス王の名をお聞きになったことでしょう。はるかな昔、わたしはその御方の精より宿され、魚がその腹にわたしを抱いていました。ダルマに最も通じた渡し守が水より母を捕え、その腹からわたしを取り出し、自らの家へ連れ帰って娘として育てました。その義に篤い人—わたしの父—は一艘の舟を持ち、それを利のためのみならず、ダルマのために用いていたのです。」
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage foregrounds satya (truthful disclosure) as the basis for deciding proper action (yad anantaram), and it praises dharma lived in ordinary roles: the ferryman is called paramadharmavit, and even his livelihood (the boat) is framed as dharmārtha—service aligned with duty rather than mere gain.
A woman recounts her origin story: she was conceived from King Vasu, carried within a fish, then rescued from the fish’s belly by a righteous ferryman who raised her as his daughter. She urges the listener to hear this truth and then act appropriately in response.