Shloka 223
Kaurava Court Hears of the Pāṇḍavas’ Forest Hardship (वैचित्रवीर्यवंशीयस्य राज्ञः करुणाविचारः)
इस प्रकार श्रीमहाभारत वनपर्वके अन्तर्गत मार्कण्डेययमास्यापर्वमें आंगिरसोपाख्यानप्रकरणमें स्कन्दकी उत्पत्तिके विषयमें केशिपराभवविषयक दो यौ तेईसवाँ अध्याय समाप्त हुआ
Iti prakāraṃ Śrīmahābhārata-Vanaparvaṇi antargata-Mārkaṇḍeyasamāsyāparvaṇi Āṅgirasopākhyānaprakaraṇe Skandasya utpattiviṣaye Keśiparābhavaviṣayakaḥ dviśatatritīyaḥ adhyāyaḥ samāptaḥ.
ดังนี้ ในศรีมหาภารตะ วนปรรพ ภายในมารกัณฑेयสมาสยาปรรพ ในตอนอางคิรสอุปาขยาน ว่าด้วยกำเนิดพระสกันทะ และโดยเฉพาะเรื่องความพ่ายแพ้ของเคศี บทที่สองร้อยยี่สิบสามจึงสิ้นสุดลง
युधिषछ्िर उवाच
Educational Q&A
As a colophon, the verse primarily teaches attentiveness to textual structure: it signals the completion of a doctrinally and ethically charged mythic unit—Skanda’s origin and the defeat of a hostile force—reinforcing the epic pattern that righteous, divinely aligned order ultimately overcomes disruptive power.
This line is not a spoken narrative event but an editorial/recitational closure: it announces that the chapter dealing with Skanda’s birth and the topic of Keśi’s defeat—within the Markandeya-related embedded tale (Āṅgirasa upākhyāna) of the Vana Parva—has ended.