Shloka 24

Ādi-parva Adhyāya 209: Śaraṇāgati of the Cursed Apsarases; Nārītīrtha-prasiddhi; Arjuna’s Vimocana

Devanagari script

निवृत्तकृषिगोरक्षा विध्वस्तनगराश्रमा | अस्थिकड्कालसंकीर्णा भूर्बभूवोग्रदर्शना,कृषि और गोरक्षाका नाम नहीं था, नगर और आश्रम उजड़कर खण्डहर हो गये थे। चारों ओर हड्डियाँ और कंकाल भरे पड़े थे। इस प्रकार पृथ्वीकी ओर देखना भी भयानक प्रतीत होता था

Transliteration

nivr̥ttakr̥ṣigorakṣā vidhvastanagarāśramā | asthikaṅkālasaṅkīrṇā bhūrbabhūvogradharśanā ||

Translation

นารทกล่าวว่า “การเพาะปลูกและการคุ้มครองโคสิ้นสุด เมืองและอาศรมพังพินาศ แผ่นดินเกลื่อนกลาดด้วยกระดูกและโครงกระดูกทั่วทุกแห่ง จนเพียงมองดูก็น่าสะพรึงกลัว”

Word by Word

निवृत्तकृषिगोरक्षाin which agriculture and cow-protection had ceased

विध्वस्तनगराश्रमाwhose towns and hermitages were ruined

अस्थिकङ्कालसंकीर्णाstrewn with bones and skeletons

भूःthe earth

बभूवbecame / was

उग्रदर्शनाterrible to behold

Speaker

नारद उवाच

Characters & Entities

Nārada

bhūḥ (the earth/land)

nagara (cities)

āśrama (hermitages)

go (cattle)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores that when dharma collapses, the foundations of a humane society—cultivation (kr̥ṣi), care for cattle (gorakṣā), and sanctuaries of learning and renunciation (āśramas)—also collapse, leaving a landscape marked by death and fear. It implicitly teaches the ethical necessity of protecting life-sustaining livelihoods and sacred institutions.

What is happening in the narrative?

Nārada is describing a devastated world: farming and cattle-rearing have stopped, cities and hermitages are destroyed, and the ground is littered with bones and skeletons. The scene functions as a stark portrayal of widespread ruin and moral disorder.