Shloka 16
Āśvamedhika Parva, Adhyāya 77 — Saindhava resistance, Arjuna’s restraint, and Duḥśalā’s supplication
उल्काश्न जच्निरे सूर्य विकीर्यन्त्य:ः समन्ततः । वेपथुश्चा भवद् राजन् कैलासस्य महागिरे:,चारों ओर बिखरकर गिरती हुई उल्काएँ सूर्यसे टकराने लगीं। राजन! उस समय महापर्वत कैलास भी काँपने लगा
ulkāś ca jajñire sūryaṁ vikīryantyaḥ samantataḥ | vepathuś cābhavad rājan kailāsasya mahāgireḥ ||
Sinabi ni Vaiśaṃpāyana: Lumitaw ang mga bulalakaw at, sa pagkalat sa lahat ng dako, waring tumatama sa araw. O hari, sa sandaling iyon maging ang Bundok Kailāsa—ang dakilang bundok—ay nagsimulang manginig, isang nakapanghihilakbot na pagyanig ng kalikasan na sumasalamin sa bigat ng nagaganap.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses cosmic portents—meteors and a trembling sacred mountain—to signal that moral and political actions have consequences that reverberate beyond human society. In Mahābhārata’s ethical imagination, disturbances in dharma are mirrored by disturbances in nature.
Vaiśampāyana narrates ominous signs: meteors scatter across the sky as if colliding with the sun, and Mount Kailāsa shakes. These are presented as foreboding indicators accompanying a moment of great narrative tension in the Aśvamedhika Parva.