Shloka 17

Ādi-parva Adhyāya 141: Bhīma–Hiḍimba Confrontation and Protective Discourse

Devanagari script

जनमेजय उवाच पुनर्विस्तरश: श्रोतुमिच्छामि द्विजसत्तम । दाहं जतुगृहस्यैव पाण्डवानां च मोक्षणम्‌,जनमेजय बोले--विप्रवर! मैं लाक्षागृहके जलने और पाण्डवोंके उससे बच जानेका वृत्तान्त पुनः विस्तारसे सुनना चाहता हूँ

Transliteration

janamejaya uvāca punar vistarataḥ śrotum icchāmi dvijasattama | dāhaṃ jatugṛhasyaiva pāṇḍavānāṃ ca mokṣaṇam ||

Translation

ชนเมชยะตรัสว่า “ข้าแต่พราหมณ์ผู้ประเสริฐ ข้าปรารถนาจะฟังอีกครั้งโดยพิสดาร ถึงเหตุเรือนยางรักถูกเผา และการที่เหล่าปาณฑพหลุดรอดพ้นจากที่นั่นได้อย่างไร”

Word by Word

• जनमेजयः: Janamejaya
• जनमेजयः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: जनमेजय
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• उवाच: said
• Type: Verb
• Root: वच्
• Form: Perfect, Third, Singular, Parasmaipada

• पुनः: again
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: पुनः

• विस्तरशः: in detail
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: विस्तरशस्

• श्रोतुम्: to hear
• Type: Verb
• Root: श्रु
• Form: Tumun (infinitive)

• इच्छामि: I wish/desire
• Type: Verb
• Root: इष्
• Form: Present, First, Singular, Parasmaipada

• द्विजसत्तम: O best of the twice-born (brahmin)
• द्विजसत्तम: Sampradana
• Type: Noun
• Root: द्विजसत्तम
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• दाहम्: burning, conflagration
• दाहम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: दाह
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• जतुगृहस्य: of the lac-house
• Type: Noun
• Root: जतुगृह
• Form: Neuter, Genitive, Singular

• एव: indeed/just
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• पाण्डवानाम्: of the Pandavas
• Type: Noun
• Root: पाण्डव
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Plural

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• मोक्षणम्: escape, deliverance
• मोक्षणम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: मोक्षण
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

Speaker

जनमेजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Janamejaya
• dvijasattama (the Brahmin narrator, i.e., Vaiśampāyana in context)
• Jatugṛha (lac-house)
• Pāṇḍavas

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the dharmic value of attentive inquiry: a ruler seeks a careful, detailed recounting of a morally charged event—an act of treachery (the lac-house plot) and the preservation of the Pāṇḍavas—so that ethical meaning can be discerned through accurate narration.

What is happening in the narrative?

King Janamejaya requests the Brahmin narrator to retell, with greater detail, the episode of the lac-house being set on fire and the subsequent escape of the Pāṇḍavas.