Shloka 2
Śālva–Pradyumna Yuddha: Sārathya-kauśala, Astra-pratikāra, Daiva-niyati
Chapter 20
अपश्यं॑ द्वारकां चाहं महाराज हतत्विषम् | निःस्वाध्यायवषट्कारां निर्भूषणवरस्त्रियम्,महाराज! मैंने वहाँ पहुँचकर देखा, द्वारका श्रीहीन हो रही है। वहाँ न तो स्वाध्याय होता है, न वषट्कार। वह पुरी आभूषणोंसे रहित सुन्दरी नारीकी भाँति उदास लग रही थी
apaśyaṁ dvārakāṁ cāhaṁ mahārāja hatatviṣam | niḥsvādhyāyavaṣaṭkārāṁ nirbhūṣaṇavarastriyam ||
Васудева сказал: «О великий царь, прибыв туда, я увидел Двараку, лишённую сияния. Не было ни чтения священного учения (свадхьяи), ни жертвенного возгласа “вашат”. Город казался унылым — словно прекрасная женщина, оставшаяся без украшений».
वासुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links a community’s well-being to dharmic practice: when svādhyāya (sacred learning) and yajña-rites (signaled by the vaṣaṭ call) disappear, the loss is not merely cultural but moral and spiritual, reflected outwardly as the fading of a city’s ‘śrī’ (auspicious radiance).
Vāsudeva reports to the king that upon reaching Dvārakā he found it ominously changed—its brilliance gone and its religious life silent. He conveys this decline through a vivid simile: the city resembles a beautiful woman stripped of her ornaments, suggesting impending misfortune for the Yādava capital.