Mahabharata 1.45.17 — Adi Parva, Adhyaya 45, Shloka 17
परिक्षिद्वृत्तान्तप्रश्नः
Inquiry into Parīkṣit’s Conduct and the Beginnings of His Downfall
लोकात् पुण्यादिह भ्रष्टा: संतानप्रक्षयान्मुने । प्रणष्टं नस्तपस्तीव्रं न हि नस्तन्तुरस्ति वै
lokāt puṇyād iha bhraṣṭāḥ saṃtāna-prakṣayān mune | praṇaṣṭaṃ nas tapas tīvraṃ na hi nas tantur asti vai ||
ഹേ മുനേ! സന്താനപരമ്പര ക്ഷയിച്ചതിനാൽ ഞങ്ങൾ പുണ്യലോകങ്ങളിൽ നിന്ന് ഇവിടെ പതിതരായി. ഞങ്ങളുടെ തീവ്രതപസ്സ് നിഷ്ഫലമായി; കാരണം ഞങ്ങളുടെ കുലത്തിൽ ഇനി വംശതന്തു തന്നെ ഇല്ല.
तक्षक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links spiritual merit and stability to continuity of dharmic order through lineage: when progeny and family continuity are destroyed, even accumulated merit and austerity are portrayed as becoming fruitless, leading to a fall from higher states.
Takṣaka addresses a sage, lamenting that the destruction of their progeny has severed their lineage (‘tantu’), causing them to lose their standing in the meritorious worlds and rendering their intense ascetic efforts ineffective.
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