Shloka 143

युद्धसंग्रहः

Kurukṣetra Campaign in Summary

Devanagari script

स नगो वेश्मसंकीर्णो देवलोक इवाबभौ । वीरवर! उस पर्वतपर प्रण्यानुष्ठानके लिये बहुत-से गृह और आश्रम बने थे

Transliteration

sa nagaḥ veśma-saṅkīrṇo devaloka ivābabhau |

Translation

ヴァイシャṃパーヤナは語った。その山は多くの住まいで埋め尽くされ、まるで神々の世界のように輝いていた。そこには聖なる行法を修するための家々とアーシュラマが数多く設けられ、功徳ある人々が住んでいた。ライヴァタカ山の大祭において、それはヴリシュニ族の勇士たちの遊楽の地となり、斜面一帯が数知れぬ住居で満ちたゆえに、その山域は天界にも比すべき壮麗さを帯びた—共同の敬虔と節度ある祝祭が、世俗の景を聖なる場へと変えうることを示している。

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'saḥ', 'definition': 'he/that (referring to the mountain)'}, {'term': 'nagaḥ', 'definition': 'mountain'}, {'term': 'veśma', 'definition': 'house, dwelling'}, {'term': 'saṅkīrṇa', 'definition': 'crowded, filled, thronged'}, {'term': 'devalokaḥ', 'definition': 'the world/realm of the gods

• heaven'}, {'term': 'iva', 'definition': 'like, as if'}, {'term': 'ababhau', 'definition': 'shone, appeared splendid (perfect of √bhā)'}, {'term': 'āśrama', 'definition': 'hermitage

• a place of disciplined religious life'}, {'term': 'puṇyātmā', 'definition': 'virtuous-souled, meritorious'}, {'term': 'vr̥ṣṇivaṃśa / vr̥ṣṇayaḥ', 'definition': 'the Vṛṣṇi lineage/clan (Kṛṣṇa’s people)'}, {'term': 'vihāra-sthala', 'definition': 'place of recreation/sojourn'}, {'term': 'mahotsava', 'definition': 'great festival'}, {'term': 'raivataka', 'definition': 'Raivataka (name of the mountain)'}]

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Raivataka mountain
• Devaloka (heaven)
• Vṛṣṇi warriors
• houses (veśma)
• hermitages (āśrama)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how righteous conduct and sacred observances (performed in āśramas by puṇyātmans) can sanctify a place, making it resemble ‘devaloka’. It implicitly commends disciplined celebration—festivity aligned with dharma—rather than indulgence divorced from spiritual purpose.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana describes Mount Raivataka during a great festival: the mountain is packed with houses and hermitages for religious observances, inhabited by virtuous people, and it serves as a leisure-ground for the heroic Vṛṣṇis; the crowded, radiant scene is compared to heaven.