Shloka 3
Janamejaya’s Request for Expansion; Vaiśampāyana’s Authorization and Phalāśruti of the Mahābhārata
Jaya
सौतिरुवाच व्याहर्तुकामे वरदे नृपे द्विज॑ वरं वृणीष्वेति ततो5भ्युवाच । होता वाक््यं नातिदहृष्टान्तरात्मा कर्मण्यस्मिंस्तक्षको नैति तावत्,उग्रश्रवाजी कहते हैं-शौनक! तदनन्तर वर देनेके लिये उद्यत राजा जनमेजय विप्रवर आस्तीकसे यह कहना ही चाहते थे कि “तुम मुहमाँगा वर माँग लो।” इतनेमें ही होता, जिसका मन अधिक प्रसन्न नहीं था, बोल उठा--“हमारे इस यज्ञकर्ममें तक्षक नाग तो अभीतक आया ही नहीं"
Sautir uvāca—vyāhartukāme varade nṛpe dvijaṁ varaṁ vṛṇīṣveti tato ’bhyuvāca | hotā vākyaṁ nātidahṛṣṭāntarātmā karmaṇy asmiṁs takṣako naiti tāvat ||
Sinabi ni Sauti: Nang ang haring nagbibigay-biyaya (si Janamejaya) ay malapit nang kausapin ang Brahmin, na ibig sanang sabihin, “Pumili ka ng biyaya,” biglang nagsalita ang paring Hotṛ—na hindi lubos ang galak sa loob—: “Sa handog na ito, hindi pa dumarating dito si Takṣaka.”
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical tension between ritual power and moral intention: even when a king is ready to grant a boon, the rite’s participants remain uneasy if the act is driven by vengeance and its targeted outcome has not yet occurred.
During Janamejaya’s snake-sacrifice, the king is about to tell the brahmin Āstīka to choose a boon, but the Hotṛ priest interrupts, noting that Takṣaka—the principal serpent sought by the sacrifice—has still not come.