Shloka 14
अध्याय १: उत्पात-दर्शनम् तथा वृष्णि-विनाश-श्रवणम्
Omens Observed and the Hearing of the Vṛṣṇi Destruction
जनमेजय उवाच केनानुशप्तास्ते वीरा: क्षयं वृष्ण्यन्धका गता: । भोजाश्ष द्विजवर्य त्वं विस्तरेण वदस्व मे,जनमेजयने पूछा--विप्रवर! वृष्णि, अन्धक तथा भोजवंशके उन वीरोंको किसने शाप दिया था जिससे उनका संहार हो गया? आप यह प्रसंग मुझे विस्तारपूर्वक बताइये
Janamejaya uvāca: kenānuśaptās te vīrāḥ kṣayaṃ Vṛṣṇy-Andhakā gatāḥ? Bhojāś ca, dvijavarya, tvaṃ vistareṇa vadasva me.
जनमेजय उवाच—केनानुशप्तास्ते वीराḥ क्षयं वृष्ण्यन्धका गताḥ। भोजाश्च द्विजवर्य त्वं विस्तरेण वदस्व मे॥
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames the downfall of mighty lineages as arising from a specific moral-causal trigger (a curse), pointing to the Mahābhārata’s recurring ethic: power and heroism do not override dharma, and collective decline can follow from transgression and its consequences.
King Janamejaya asks the sage to explain, in detail, who pronounced the curse that led to the destruction of the Vṛṣṇi and Andhaka heroes (and the Bhojas). This question initiates the account of the events culminating in the Yādavas’ end in the Mausala Parva.