Shloka 1
अध्याय १: महाप्रस्थानारम्भः
The Commencement of the Great Departure
मौसलपर्वकी कुल एलोकसंख्या-- ३०४॥। अग्निकी प्रेरणासे अर्जुन अपने गाण्डीव धनुष और अक्षय तरकसको जलमें डाल रहे हैं ॥ ३० श्रीपरमात्मने नम: ।।
janamejaya uvāca |
evaṁ vṛṣṇy-andhaka-kule śrutvā mausalāhavam |
pāṇḍavāḥ kim akurvanta tathā kṛṣṇe divaṁ gate ||
Janamejaya berkata: “Wahai Brahmana, setelah aku mendengar bahawa pertempuran dengan gada telah meletus dalam kalangan Vṛṣṇi dan Andhaka, apakah yang dilakukan oleh para Pāṇḍava setelah Kṛṣṇa berangkat ke syurga?”
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the dharmic pivot after Kṛṣṇa’s departure: when worldly supports collapse, righteous leaders must reassess attachment to power and align action with impermanence and duty. It prepares the reader for the Pāṇḍavas’ movement from royal responsibility toward renunciation and the ‘great departure’ (mahāprasthāna).
Janamejaya asks the sage what the Pāṇḍavas did after hearing of the internecine club-war among the Vṛṣṇis and Andhakas and after Kṛṣṇa left the world. This question introduces the Mahāprasthānika Parva’s account of the Pāṇḍavas’ final decisions and departure.