Mahabharata — Ashvamedhika Parva, Shloka 11
Ulūpī’s Disclosure and the Saṃjīvana-Maṇi: Arjuna’s Restoration (उलूपी-प्रकटनं संजीवनमणि-स्थापनं च)
एषा तु विहिता शान्ति: पुत्राद् यां प्राप्ततानसि । वसुभिर्वसुधापाल गड़या च महामते
eṣā tu vihitā śāntiḥ putrād yāṃ prāptatān asi | vasubhir vasudhāpāla gaṅgayā ca mahāmate ||
Wika ni Arjuna: “O marunong, O tagapangalaga ng daigdig! Ito ang mismong pagtubos na itinakda noong unang panahon—na itinatag ng mga Vasu at ng ilog na Gaṅgā. Ito rin yaong ‘pagpapatahimik ng kasalanan’ na ngayo’y natamo mo sa pamamagitan ng iyong anak, sa anyo ng pagkatalo.”
अर्जुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Wrongdoing is not erased by power or denial; it is pacified through a prescribed form of restitution or expiation. Here, defeat—received through one’s own son—is presented as a divinely sanctioned means of settling a moral debt.
Arjuna addresses a king (‘protector of the earth’) and explains that the outcome the king has just experienced—defeat at the hands of his son—is not random. It matches an older, authoritative ordinance attributed to the Vasus and Gaṅgā, functioning as the determined ‘śānti’ (expiation) for a prior fault.