Shloka 48

Kurukṣetra-anudarśanam — Rāma-hradāḥ and the Question of Kṣatra Continuity (शान्ति पर्व, अध्याय ४८)

Devanagari script

इति श्रीमहाभारते शान्तिपर्वणि राजधर्मानुशासनपर्वणि रामोपाख्याने&डष्टचत्वारिंशो5 ध्याय:

Transliteration

iti śrīmahābhārate śāntiparvaṇi rājadharmānuśāsanaparvaṇi rāmopākhyāne ’ṣṭacatvāriṃśo ’dhyāyaḥ |

Translation

ดังนี้ ในศรีมหาภารตะ ภายในศานติปรรพ โดยเฉพาะในรัชธรรมานุศาสนปรรพ บทที่สี่สิบแปดซึ่งเป็นการเริ่มรามอุปาขยาน (อุปาขยานแห่งปรศุราม) ได้จบลงแล้ว

Word by Word

• इति: thus; so
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इति

• श्री: fortune; honorific 'śrī'
• Type: Noun
• Root: श्री
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• महाभारते: in the Mahābhārata
• महाभारते: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: महाभारत
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• शान्तिपर्वणि: in the Śānti-parvan
• शान्तिपर्वणि: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: शान्तिपर्वन्
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• राजधर्मानुशासनपर्वणि: in the Rājadharmānuśāsana-parvan (section on instruction in royal duties)
• राजधर्मानुशासनपर्वणि: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: राजधर्मानुशासनपर्वन्
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• रामोपाख्याने: in the Rāma-upākhyāna (tale of Rāma/Paraśurāma)
• रामोपाख्याने: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: रामोपाख्यान
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• अष्टचत्वारिंशः: forty-eighth
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अष्टचत्वारिंशत्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• अध्यायः: chapter
• अध्यायः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: अध्याय
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Mahābhārata
• Śānti Parva
• Rājadharmānuśāsana Parva
• Rāmopākhyāna
• Rāma (Paraśurāma)
• Vaiśampāyana

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

This verse is a colophon rather than a doctrinal statement; its function is to frame the teaching context—royal dharma (rājadharma) as an authoritative instruction (anuśāsana)—and to signal a transition to an illustrative episode (upākhyāna), namely the Paraśurāma narrative, which will serve as a moral-political example within the discourse on kingship.

What is happening in the narrative?

The chapter concludes, and the text announces that within Śānti Parvan’s rājadharma instruction section, the forty-eighth chapter has ended and the Rāma (Paraśurāma) episode is beginning. It is a structural marker used by the tradition to organize the epic’s internal divisions.