Shloka 257

Devanagari script

इति श्रीमहा भारते शान्तिपर्वणि मोक्षधर्मपर्वणि मृत्युप्रजापतिसंवादे सप्तपञ्चाशदधिकद्विशततमो<ध्याय:

Transliteration

iti śrīmahābhārate śāntiparvaṇi mokṣadharmaparvaṇi mṛtyuprajāpati-saṃvāde saptapañcāśad-adhika-dviśatatamo 'dhyāyaḥ

Translation

ഇതി ശ്രീമഹാഭാരതത്തിലെ ശാന്തിപർവത്തിലെ മോക്ഷധർമ്മപർവത്തിൽ മൃത്യു–പ്രജാപതി സംവാദത്തിന്റെ ഇരുനൂറ്റി അമ്പത്തേഴാമത്തെ അധ്യായം.

Word by Word

इतिthus; end-quote marker

श्रीin the venerable/auspicious (work)

महाभारतेin the Mahābhārata

शान्तिपर्वणिin the Śānti-parvan

मोक्षधर्मपर्वणिin the Mokṣa-dharma section

मृत्युप्रजापतिसंवादेin the dialogue of Mṛtyu and Prajāpati

सप्तपञ्चाशत्fifty-seven

अधिकadditional; over and above

द्विशततमःtwo-hundredth

अध्यायःchapter

Speaker

नारद उवाच

Characters & Entities

Mahābhārata

Śānti Parva

Mokṣa-dharma Parva

Mṛtyu

Prajāpati

Nārada

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

This line is a colophon marking the conclusion of a chapter in the Mokṣa-dharma section. Its function is not to add new doctrine but to frame the teaching as part of a larger ethical-philosophical discourse—here, the dialogue between Death (Mṛtyu) and Prajāpati—situated within Śānti Parva’s broader pursuit of peace, restraint, and liberation-oriented dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

The text signals that the discourse between Mṛtyu and Prajāpati has reached the end of the 257th chapter within the Mokṣa-dharma portion of Śānti Parva. It is a formal closing statement used by the tradition to identify the work, section, dialogue-context, and chapter number.