Shloka 54

दमयन्तीस्वयंवरः — देववेषधारणं, सत्यप्रार्थना, नलवरणम्

Damayantī’s Svayaṃvara: Divine Disguises, Truth-Vow, and Choosing Nala

Devanagari script

इति श्रीमहाभारते वनपर्वणि नलोपाख्यानपर्वणि इन्द्रनारदसंवादे चतुष्पञ्चाशत्तमो<ध्याय:

Transliteration

iti śrīmahābhārate vanaparvaṇi nalopākhyānaparvaṇi indranāradasaṃvāde catuṣpañcāśattamo 'dhyāyaḥ

Translation

ดังนี้ ในศรีมหาภารตะ ภาควนปรรพ ตอนนโลปาขยานะ ในบทสนทนาระหว่างอินทร์กับนารท บทที่ห้าสิบสี่ได้สิ้นสุดลง

Word by Word

इतिthus; end-quote marker

श्रीमहाभारतेin the revered Mahabharata

वनपर्वणिin the Vana Parva (Forest Book)

नलोपाख्यानपर्वणिin the Nala-upakhyana section

इन्द्रनारदसंवादेin the dialogue of Indra and Narada

चतुष्पञ्चाशत्तमःfifty-fourth

अध्यायःchapter

Speaker

नारद उवाच

Characters & Entities

Mahābhārata

Vana Parva

Nalopākhyāna

Indra

Nārada

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

This line is a colophon rather than a didactic verse; its function is to anchor the teaching contextually—placing the chapter within the Nalopākhyāna and an Indra–Nārada dialogue, where instruction is conveyed through authoritative conversation and exemplary narrative.

What is happening in the narrative?

The chapter concludes. The text formally identifies the work (Mahābhārata), the larger book (Vana Parva), the embedded episode (Nalopākhyāna), and the dialogic frame (Indra and Nārada), then states that this is the fifty-fourth chapter.