Shloka 3
Jaṭāsura-praveśa, Draupadī-apaharaṇa, and Jaṭāsura-vadha (जटासुरप्रवेशः द्रौपद्यपहरणं च जटासुरवधः)
हरिताम्बुजसंच्छन्नां दिव्यां कनकपुष्कराम् । नानापक्षिजनाकीर्णा सूपतीर्थामकर्दमाम्
haritāmbujasaṃchannāṃ divyāṃ kanakapuṣkarām | nānāpākṣijanākīrṇāṃ sūpatīrthām akardamām ||
ते एक दिव्य कमल-सरोवर होते—हिरव्या कमळांनी आच्छादित, सुवर्णप्रभ कमळफुलांनी झळाळणारे. नानाविध पक्षी व जीवांनी ते गजबजलेले; उत्तम स्नानतीर्थांनी युक्त आणि चिखलरहित होते.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds purity and auspiciousness through landscape: a clear, mudless lake with good bathing-places suggests a setting fit for restraint, reflection, and dharmic conduct—outer cleanliness mirroring inner clarity.
The narrator describes a wondrous lotus-lake—green with lotuses, gleaming with golden blooms, alive with birds and other beings, and offering fine, clean access points—setting the scene for the events of this section of the Vana Parva.