Shloka 54

Vāg-yuddha and Nimitta-darśana before the Gadāyuddha

Verbal Duel and Omens

Devanagari script

इस प्रकार श्रीमहाभारत शल्यपर्वके अन्तर्गत गदापव॑नें बलदेवजीकी तीर्थयात्राके प्रसंगमें सारस्वतोपाख्यानविषयक चौवनवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ

Transliteration

iti prakāraṁ śrīmahābhārata-śalya-parvake antargata-gadāpavane baladevājī-kī tīrthayātrāke prasaṅgame sārasvatopākhyāna-viṣayaka catuḥpañcāśattamo 'dhyāyaḥ pūrṇaḥ abhūt

Translation

ഇങ്ങനെ ശ്രീമഹാഭാരതത്തിലെ ശല്യപർവ്വാന്തർഗതമായ ഗദാപർവ്വത്തിൽ, ബലദേവന്റെ തീർത്ഥയാത്രാ പ്രസംഗത്തിലെ സാരസ്വതോപാഖ്യാനവിഷയകമായ അമ്പത്തിനാലാം അധ്യായം സമാപ്തമായി.

Word by Word

इतिthus

प्रकारम्manner/way

श्रीauspiciousness; honorific 'Śrī'

महाभारतम्the Mahābhārata

शल्यपर्वणिin the Śalya-parvan

अन्तर्गतincluded/contained (within)

गदापर्वणिin the Gadā-parvan (club-fight section)

बलदेवस्यof Baladeva

तीर्थयात्रायाःof the pilgrimage

प्रसङ्गेin the context/episode

सारस्वतोपाख्यानविषयकःconcerning the Sārasvata-upākhyāna

चतुःपञ्चाशत्तमःfifty-fourth

अध्यायःchapter

समाप्तःcompleted/ended

अभवत्was/became

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Śrī Mahābhārata

Śalya Parva

Gadāparvan (mace episode)

Baladeva (Balarāma)

Tīrthayātrā (pilgrimage)

Sārasvata Upākhyāna

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?

As a chapter-colophon, the verse teaches indirectly: even amid a war-book (Śalya Parva), the Mahābhārata preserves dharma through structured narration—pilgrimage and exemplary sub-tales are presented as means to recall, transmit, and re-anchor ethical order.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana signals the completion of the fifty-fourth chapter: the Sārasvata Upākhyāna has been told within the broader context of Baladeva’s tīrthayātrā during the Gadā (mace-related) episode in Śalya Parva, and the text now prepares to move to the next segment.