Shloka 2
Śālva–Pradyumna Yuddha: Sārathya-kauśala, Astra-pratikāra, Daiva-niyati
Chapter 20
अपश्यं॑ द्वारकां चाहं महाराज हतत्विषम् | निःस्वाध्यायवषट्कारां निर्भूषणवरस्त्रियम्,महाराज! मैंने वहाँ पहुँचकर देखा, द्वारका श्रीहीन हो रही है। वहाँ न तो स्वाध्याय होता है, न वषट्कार। वह पुरी आभूषणोंसे रहित सुन्दरी नारीकी भाँति उदास लग रही थी
apaśyaṁ dvārakāṁ cāhaṁ mahārāja hatatviṣam | niḥsvādhyāyavaṣaṭkārāṁ nirbhūṣaṇavarastriyam ||
Wika ni Vāsudeva: “Maharaja, pagdating ko roon ay nakita kong ang Dvārakā ay nawalan ng ningning. Wala nang pagbigkas ng svādhyāya, wala ring sigaw na ‘vaṣaṭ’ sa paghahandog. Ang lungsod ay tila ulila—gaya ng isang magandang babae na inalisan ng mga alahas.”
वासुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links a community’s well-being to dharmic practice: when svādhyāya (sacred learning) and yajña-rites (signaled by the vaṣaṭ call) disappear, the loss is not merely cultural but moral and spiritual, reflected outwardly as the fading of a city’s ‘śrī’ (auspicious radiance).
Vāsudeva reports to the king that upon reaching Dvārakā he found it ominously changed—its brilliance gone and its religious life silent. He conveys this decline through a vivid simile: the city resembles a beautiful woman stripped of her ornaments, suggesting impending misfortune for the Yādava capital.