Shloka 1
गान्धारीपुत्रोत्पत्तिः — The Birth of Gāndhārī’s Hundred Sons (and Yuyutsu); Omens and Counsel on Succession
इस प्रकार श्रीमह्याभारत आदिपर्वके अन्तर्गत सम्भवपर्वमें विचित्रवीरयके पुत्रोंकी उत्पत्तिविषयक एक सौ पॉचवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ ॥/ १०५ ॥। अपन ह< बक। है २ >> षर्डाधिकशततमोब< ध्याय: महर्षि माण्डव्यका शूलीपर चढ़ाया जाना जनमेजय उवाच कि कृतं कर्म धर्मेण येन शापमुपेयिवान् । कस्य शापाच्च ब्रह्म॒र्षे: शूद्रयोनावजायत
Janamejaya uvāca: kiṁ kṛtaṁ karma dharmeṇa yena śāpam upeyivān? kasya śāpāc ca brahmarṣeḥ śūdrayonāv ajāyata?
Tinanong ni Janamejaya: “O Brahmin, anong gawa ang ginawa ni Dharma (Dharmarāja) ayon sa dharma kaya siya napasailalim sa sumpa? At sa sumpa ng aling brahmarṣi siya isinilang sa sinapupunan ng isang Śūdra?”
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even Dharma personified is subject to moral scrutiny: actions have consequences, and the narrative probes how justice, punishment, and proportionality can be questioned—especially when a curse results in a diminished birth.
Janamejaya presses the storyteller to explain the backstory: what act led Dharma/Dharmarāja to be cursed, and which brahmarṣi’s curse caused him to be born in a Śūdra womb—introducing the ethical episode connected with the sage Māṇḍavya.