Shloka 17
कामीकवन-समागमः
Kāmyaka Forest Meeting: Kṛṣṇa’s Visit; Mārkaṇḍeya and Nārada Arrive
नासि केवलसर्पेण तिर्यग्योनिषु वर्तता गृहीत: कौरवश्रेष्ठ वरदानमिदं मम
nāsi kevalasarpeṇa tiryagyoniṣu vartatā gṛhītaḥ kauravaśreṣṭha varadānam idaṃ mama
ヴァイシャンパーヤナは言った。「おお、カウラヴァの最上者よ。汝は、下等の畜生の生に住まうただの蛇に捕らえられたのではない。これは我に授けられた恩寵（ヴァラ）である。」
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Do not judge events only by outward appearances: what seems like a random misfortune (being seized by a serpent) may be shaped by higher agency and moral causality (karma), and can even function as a divinely or supernaturally granted boon.
The narrator Vaiśampāyana addresses a Kaurava as ‘best of the Kauravas’ and clarifies that the capture by a serpent was not the act of a mere animal; it is connected to a deliberate, boon-like intervention attributed to the speaker.