Shloka 4

कुरुसभायां केशवागमन-सत्कारविधानम् / Preparations to Honor Keśava at the Kuru Court

Devanagari script

वैशम्पायन उवाच तस्य प्रयाणे यान्यासन्‌ निमित्तानि महात्मन: । तानि मे शृणु सर्वाणि दैवान्यौत्पातिकानि च,वैशम्पायनजीने कहा--राजन! महात्मा श्रीकृष्णके प्रस्थान करते समय जो दिव्य शकुन और उत्पातसूचक अपशकुन प्रकट हुए थे, मुझसे उन सबका वर्णन सुनो

Transliteration

vaiśampāyana uvāca | tasya prayāṇe yāny āsan nimittāni mahātmanaḥ | tāni me śṛṇu sarvāṇi daivāny autpātikāni ca ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana berkata: “Wahai Raja, tatkala insan agung itu (Śrī Kṛṣṇa) berangkat dalam perjalanannya, apa jua alamat yang muncul—baik tanda bertuah yang berasal daripada para dewa mahupun petanda yang meramalkan bencana—dengarlah daripadaku kisah lengkap tentang semuanya.”

Word by Word

{'vaiśampāyana uvāca''Vaiśampāyana said', 'tasya': 'of him

his', 'prayāṇe''at the departure

on setting out', 'yāni''which

whatever (neuter plural)', 'āsan''were

occurred', 'nimittāni''omens

indications', 'mahātmanaḥ''of the great-souled one (honorific epithet)', 'tāni': 'those', 'me': 'from me

to me (contextually‘from me, hear’)', 'śṛṇu': 'hear

listen', 'sarvāṇi''all (of them)', 'daivāni': 'divine

of heavenly origin (often auspicious or fated)', 'autpātikāni''portentous

arising from utpāta (prodigies/inauspicious phenomena)', 'ca''and'}

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

King (rājan, the listener)

the great-souled one (mahātmā; contextually Śrī Kṛṣṇa in this passage’s framing)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the epic’s moral-narrative logic that major dharmic and political turning points are accompanied by ‘nimitta’—signs that invite reflection on destiny, responsibility, and the consequences of collective choices.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana addresses the king and introduces a forthcoming description of the omens seen at the time of the great person’s departure, distinguishing between divine signs (daiva) and ominous prodigies (autpātika).