Shloka 15

कृतयुगवर्णनम् तथा राजधर्मोपदेशः

Kṛtayuga Description and Instruction on Royal Dharma

Devanagari script

एतत्‌ प्रत्यक्षत: सर्व पूर्व वृत्तं द्विजोत्तम । तस्मादिच्छाम्यहं श्रोतुं सर्वहेत्वात्मिकां कथाम्‌

Transliteration

etat pratyakṣataḥ sarvaṃ pūrva-vṛttaṃ dvijottama | tasmād icchāmy ahaṃ śrotuṃ sarva-hetv-ātmikāṃ kathām ||

Translation

โอ ทวิชโอตตมะ ผู้ประเสริฐในหมู่พราหมณ์ผู้เกิดสองครั้ง เรื่องราวโบราณทั้งปวงนี้ท่านรู้ด้วยประสบการณ์ตรง ดังนั้นข้าปรารถนาจะฟังจากปากท่านซึ่งเป็นคาถาที่อธิบายเหตุปัจจัยทั้งมวล—กาลและเงื่อนไข—อันเป็นเหตุแห่งทุกสิ่ง

Word by Word

• {'etat': 'this', 'pratyakṣataḥ': 'directly

• by firsthand perception', 'sarvam': 'all

• entirely', 'pūrva-vṛttam': 'what happened before

• ancient occurrence/account', 'dvijottama': 'best of the twice-born (honorific for a Brahmin sage)', 'tasmāt': 'therefore

• for that reason', 'icchāmi': 'I desire

• I wish', 'aham': 'I', 'śrotum': 'to hear', 'sarva-hetu-ātmikām': 'having the nature of (explaining) all causes

• causal in essence', 'kathām': 'story

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśaṃpāyana
• dvijottama (addressed sage)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse emphasizes responsible inquiry: when a trustworthy witness has direct knowledge, one should seek not only the events but also their causes—understanding how time, conditions, and motives generate outcomes. This supports ethical reflection in itihāsa: actions and circumstances have consequences that can be traced and learned from.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśaṃpāyana addresses a revered Brahmin sage as “dvijottama,” acknowledging that the sage has firsthand knowledge of an ancient sequence of events. He then requests a fuller account—specifically a narrative that lays out the causal background (the reasons and conditions) behind what occurred.