Shloka 17

युधिष्ठिरस्य अर्जुनप्रेषण-युक्तिवर्णनम् | Yudhiṣṭhira’s Rationale for Sending Arjuna and Request to Dhaumya

Devanagari script

त्रिरात्रमुषित: शाकं भक्षयित्वा नर: शुचि: । शाकाहारस्य यत्‌ किंचिद्‌ वर्षद्वादिशभि: कृतम्‌

Transliteration

trirātram uṣitaḥ śākaṃ bhakṣayitvā naraḥ śuciḥ | śākāhārasya yat kiñcid varṣadvādaśibhiḥ kṛtam

Translation

जो मनुष्य शुद्ध राहून तीन रात्री शाक खाऊन निवास करतो, त्याला बारा वर्षे शाकाहार-व्रत केल्याने जे काही पुण्य मिळते ते सर्व प्राप्त होते.

Word by Word

त्रिरात्रम्for three nights

उषितःhaving stayed/dwelt

शाकम्greens/vegetables

भक्षयित्वाhaving eaten

नरःa man

शुचिःpure/clean

शाकाहारस्यof a diet of vegetables

यत्whatever/that which

किंचित्anything/something

वर्षद्वादशभिःby twelve years / with twelve years

कृतम्done/performed

Speaker

घुलस्त्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

Ghūlastya (speaker)

nara (a man/observer of the vow)

śāka (greens/leafy vegetables)

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?

The verse teaches that disciplined restraint in diet, combined with purity, can yield great spiritual merit; even a short, sincere observance may equal the fruit of a much longer practice.

What is happening in the narrative?

Ghūlastya is describing the fruit (phala) of an austerity: staying for three nights while eating only greens, asserting that this brief observance grants the same merit attributed to maintaining a greens-only regimen for twelve years.