Shloka 38
आदि पर्व, अध्याय 67 — गान्धर्वविवाह-समयः
Duḥṣanta–Śakuntalā: Gandharva Marriage and Succession Condition
शुनको नाम राजर्षि: स बभूव नराधिप: । विनाशनस्तु चन्द्रस्य य आख्यातो महासुर:
vaiśampāyana uvāca |
śunako nāma rājarṣiḥ sa babhūva narādhipaḥ |
vināśanas tu candrasya ya ākhyāto mahāsuraḥ ||
ヴァイシャンパーヤナは語った。「シュナカという名の王仙は、人の世に王として生まれた。また、『月を滅ぼす者』として知られたその強大な阿修羅も、同じく人界に（王の姿で）生を受けた。」
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse reinforces a Mahābhārata theme: beings of immense power—whether righteous royal sages or formidable Asuras—enter the human sphere and shape history. Kingship is thus portrayed as morally weighty and cosmically consequential, not merely political.
Vaiśampāyana continues a catalog of identifications linking non-human powers (Asuras) with their human births as kings. Here he states that Śunaka appears as a human ruler, and mentions a famed Asura called the ‘Destroyer of the Moon’ also taking human birth (the broader passage elaborates many such correspondences).