Rāma’s Abhiṣeka Plan, Kaikeyī’s Boon, and the Initiation of the Exile
Mārkaṇḍeya’s Account
इति श्रीमहा भारते वनपर्वणि व्रीहिद्रौणिकपर्वणि मुदूगलोपाख्याने षष्टयधिकद्धिशततमो< ध्याय:,इस प्रकार श्रीमहाभारत वनपर्वके अन्तर्गत व्रीहिद्रीणिकपर्वमें मुदूगलीपाख्यानसम्बन्धी दी सौ साठवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ
iti śrīmahābhārate vanaparvaṇi vrīhidrāuṇikaparvaṇi mudgalo-pākhyāne ṣaṣṭyadhika-dviśatatamo 'dhyāyaḥ |
Sa gayon, sa banal na Mahābhārata, sa loob ng Vana Parva—sa ilalim ng bahaging tinatawag na Vrīhidraunika Parva—nagtatapos ang ika-260 na kabanata ng salaysay ni Mudgala. Ito ay pormal na pangwakas na tala na nagmamarka ng pagtatapos ng kabanata at inilalagay ang pangyayaring ito sa mas malawak na balangkas-etikal ng “Aklat ng Kagubatan,” kung saan sinusuri ang mga huwaran ng pagpipigil, pagtitiis, at dharma sa pamamagitan ng mga kuwentong halimbawa.
व्यास उवाच
This verse is a colophon rather than a doctrinal statement; its function is to frame the Mudgala episode within the Vana Parva. By formally closing the chapter, it reinforces that the preceding narrative is to be read as an ethical exemplar—typical of the forest-book’s focus on dharma tested through hardship, restraint, and right conduct.
The chapter concludes. The text announces that, in the Mahābhārata’s Vana Parva, within the Vrīhidraunika sub-section, the Mudgala-related upākhyāna has reached the end of its two-hundred-and-sixtieth chapter.