Mahabharata 1.10.8 — Adi Parva, Adhyaya 10, Shloka 8
Ādi Parva, Adhyāya 10: Ruru’s Vow and Ḍuṇḍubha’s Appeal (रुरोः प्रतिज्ञा—डुण्डुभोपदेशः)
रुरुस्वाच किमर्थ शप्तवान् क्रुद्धो द्विजस्त्वां भुजगोत्तम । कियन्तं चैव काल॑ ते वपुरेतद् भविष्यति
rurur uvāca: kimarthaṁ śaptavān kruddho dvijas tvāṁ bhujagottama? kiyantaṁ caiva kālaṁ te vapur etad bhaviṣyati?
Ruru bertanya: “Atas sebab apakah brāhmaṇa itu, dalam kemarahannya, menyumpahmu, wahai yang terbaik antara ular? Dan berapa lamakah bentuk tubuhmu ini akan terus wujud?”
डुण्ड्रुभ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds ethical causality: anger can lead to harmful speech and curses, and such actions bind both the curser and the cursed to consequences over time. It also models inquiry before judgment—Ruru seeks the cause and the duration, implying that understanding context is part of righteous discernment.
Ruru addresses a serpent, asking why an angry Brahmin cursed it and how long the serpent must remain in its present bodily condition. The question sets up the backstory of the curse and frames the episode around accountability and the temporality of suffering.
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