Shloka 383

Devanagari script

वज्जभूतेव सा राजन्नदृश्यत तदा विभो । नरेश्वर! उनमेंसे जो कोई भी क्रोधमें आकर एरका नामक घास लेता, उसीके हाथमें वह वज्रके समान दिखायी देने लगती थी

Transliteration

vajrabhūteva sā rājann adṛśyata tadā vibho | nareśvara! unmeṁse jo koī bhī krodhameṁ ākarā erakā nāmaka ghāsa letā, usīke hāthameṁ vah vajrake samāna dikhāī dene lagtī thī

Translation

ವೈಶಂಪಾಯನನು ಹೇಳಿದರು—ರಾಜನೇ! ಆ ಸಮಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಅದು ವಜ್ರದಂತೆ ಕಾಣುತ್ತಿತ್ತು. ನರೆಶ್ವರನೇ! ಅವರಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾರು ಕೋಪದಿಂದ ಎರಕಾ ಎಂಬ ಹುಲ್ಲನ್ನು ಎತ್ತಿಕೊಂಡರೋ, ಅವರ ಕೈಯಲ್ಲೇ ಅದೇ ಹುಲ್ಲು ವಜ್ರಸಮಾನವಾಗಿ ತೋರುತ್ತಿತ್ತು.

Word by Word

वज्रभूताhaving become like a thunderbolt

इवas if/like

साshe/that (thing)

राजन्O king

अदृश्यतwas seen/appeared

तदाthen/at that time

विभोO mighty one

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

King (Janamejaya, implied addressee)

Erakā (eraka grass/reed)

Vajra (thunderbolt, as simile/object)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Unchecked anger becomes the instrument through which destiny and past actions bear fruit: when wrath arises, even harmless things turn into weapons, and a community’s downfall can unfold from inner moral collapse rather than external enemies.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Mausala Parva’s account of the Yādavas’ end, the eraka grass—picked up in anger—appears in each person’s hand like a thunderbolt, signaling that the curse has matured and that ordinary reeds will serve as lethal weapons in the coming fratricidal fight.