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Shloka 496

कर्णनिधनवृत्तान्तनिवेदनम् | Reporting Karṇa’s Fall to Yudhiṣṭhira

सत्येन पृष्ट: प्रब्रूहि यदि तान्‌ वेत्थ शंस न: । उन्होंने सत्यवादी कौशिक मुनिके पास आकर पूछा--“भगवन्‌! बहुत-से लोग जो इधर ही आये हैं, किस रास्तेसे गये हैं? मैं सत्यकी साक्षीसे पूछता हूँ। यदि आप उन्हें जानते हों तो बताइये”

satyena pṛṣṭaḥ prabrūhi yadi tān vettha śaṃsa naḥ |

ဝါယုက ပြောသည်– «အမှန်တရား၏ နာမဖြင့် မေးမြန်းခံရသဖြင့် ပြောလော့။ ထိုလူတို့ ဘယ်သို့သွားကြသည်ကို သိလျှင် ကျွန်ုပ်တို့အား ပြောပြလော့။ အမှန်တရားကို သက်သေထား၍ မေးသည်—လူအများ ဤဘက်သို့ လာခဲ့ကြ၏; သူတို့သည် မည်သည့်လမ်းဖြင့် ထွက်ခွာသွားကြသနည်း»။

सत्येनby truth / with truth (as witness)
सत्येन:
Karana
TypeNoun
Rootसत्य
FormNeuter, Instrumental, Singular
पृष्टःhaving been asked
पृष्टः:
Karta
TypeVerb
Rootपृच्छ्
Formक्त (past passive participle), Masculine, Nominative, Singular
प्रब्रूहिtell forth; speak
प्रब्रूहि:
TypeVerb
Rootब्रू
Formलोट् (imperative), Second, Singular, Parasmaipada
यदिif
यदि:
TypeIndeclinable
Rootयदि
तान्those (people)
तान्:
Karma
TypePronoun
Rootतद्
FormMasculine, Accusative, Plural
वेत्थyou know
वेत्थ:
TypeVerb
Rootविद्
Formलट् (present), Second, Singular, Parasmaipada
शंसdeclare; tell
शंस:
TypeVerb
Rootशंस्
Formलोट् (imperative), Second, Singular, Parasmaipada
नःto us
नः:
Sampradana
TypePronoun
Rootअस्मद्
FormDative, Plural

वायुदेव उवाच

V
Vāyudeva (Wind-god)
K
Kauśika Muni (truth-speaking ascetic, as referenced in the narrative gloss)
U
unnamed group of people (those who passed by)

Educational Q&A

The verse foregrounds a dharmic tension: truthfulness in speech is a virtue, yet speech can also cause harm. It invites reflection on how a vow of truth must be guided by responsibility and the broader aims of dharma.

Vāyudeva addresses an ascetic reputed for truthfulness and presses him to disclose the route taken by a group of people. The question is framed ‘with Truth as witness,’ intensifying the pressure to answer and setting up an ethical test about what should be spoken.