Shloka 5

Parīkṣit-janma-saṃkaṭa and Kuntī’s petition to Vāsudeva (परिक्षिज्जन्मसंकटं कुन्त्याः प्रार्थना च)

Devanagari script

सर्व स्विष्टतमं कृत्वा विधिवद्‌ वेदपारग:

Transliteration

sarva sviṣṭatamaṁ kṛtvā vidhivad vedapāragaḥ

Translation

सर्वस्विष्टतमं कृत्वा विधिवद् वेदपारगः॥

Word by Word

• सर्वम्: all, everything
• सर्वम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सर्व
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• स्विष्टतमम्: most well-offered / most perfectly performed (as an oblation/rite)
• स्विष्टतमम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: स्विष्टतम
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• कृत्वा: having done, having performed
• Type: Verb
• Root: कृ
• Form: क्त्वा (absolutive/gerund), Parasmaipada (usage-neutral here)

• विधिवत्: according to rule, duly
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: विधिवत्

• वेदपारगः: one who has mastered the Vedas
• वेदपारगः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: वेदपारग
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Vedas
• ritual offering (sviṣṭa)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse emphasizes dharma as disciplined correctness: sacred acts gain their full ethical and spiritual force when performed vidhivat—according to the proper rule—by one grounded in Vedic knowledge.

What is happening in the narrative?

The narrator describes a learned Veda-master completing a sacrifice/oblation in the most proper and pleasing way, marking the successful conclusion of a ritual step within the Ashvamedhika Parva’s sacrificial setting.