Mahabharata — Ashramavasika Parva, Shloka 203

अश्रमवासिनां विषादः — Lament in Hastināpura after the Elders’ Forest Withdrawal

Devanagari script

पश्यन्तु तपसो वीर्यमद्य मे चिरसम्भूतम्‌ । 'ये देवता, गन्धर्व और महर्षि सब लोग आज मेरी चिरसंचित तपस्याका प्रभाव देखें

Transliteration

paśyantu tapaso vīryam adya me cirasambhūtam |

Translation

Vaiśampāyana berkata: «Biarlah mereka menyaksikan hari ini kekuatan yang lahir daripada tapa yang telah lama aku himpunkan—biarlah para dewa, para Gandharva, dan para resi agung melihat keampuhan pertapaanku yang terkumpul sepanjang waktu.»

Word by Word

• पश्यन्तु: let (them) see
• Type: Verb
• Root: दृश्
• Form: लोट् (imperative/benedictive sense), परस्मैपदम्, प्रथम, बहुवचनम्

• तपसः: of austerity / of penance
• Type: Noun
• Root: तपस्
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्गम्, षष्ठी, एकवचनम्

• वीर्यम्: power, potency
• वीर्यम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: वीर्य
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्गम्, द्वितीया, एकवचनम्

• अद्य: today
• अद्य: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अद्य

• मे: my / of me
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: अस्मद्
• Form: त्रिलिङ्गम्, षष्ठी, एकवचनम्

• चिरसम्भूतम्: arisen/produced over a long time; long-acquired
• Type: Adjective
• Root: चिरसम्भूत
• Form: भू, क्त (past passive participle), नपुंसकलिङ्गम्, द्वितीया, एकवचनम्

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Devatāḥ (gods)
• Gandharvāḥ (Gandharvas)
• Maharṣayaḥ (great seers)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the Mahābhārata’s ethical-spiritual idea that sustained tapas (disciplined austerity) generates real efficacy (vīrya/prabhāva). Such power is not for display alone; it functions as a form of moral-spiritual authority that even divine and sage communities acknowledge.

What is happening in the narrative?

The narrator Vaiśampāyana reports a declaration that the accumulated power of long penance is about to be demonstrated, with gods, Gandharvas, and great seers as witnesses—signaling an imminent manifestation of ascetic potency within the Āśramavāsika context.