Shloka 77

नलस्य पुष्करजयो द्यूते

Nala’s Victory over Puṣkara in the Dice-Game

Devanagari script

इति श्रीमहाभारते वनपर्वणि नलोपाख्यानपर्वणि ऋतुपर्णस्वदेशगमने सप्तसप्ततितमो<ध्याय:

Transliteration

iti śrīmahābhārate vanaparvaṇi nalopākhyānaparvaṇi ṛtūparṇasvadeśagamane saptasaptatitamo 'dhyāyaḥ

Translation

Như vậy kết thúc chương thứ bảy mươi bảy trong Vana Parva của bộ Śrī Mahābhārata, thuộc phần Nalopākhyāna, thuật việc vua Ṛtūparṇa trở về quê nước. Lời kết (colophon) này đánh dấu sự hoàn tất chuyển động của chương—trở về, chuyển đoạn, và sự mở ra của những hệ quả do các lựa chọn trước đó tạo nên.

Word by Word

इतिthus; end-quote marker

श्रीमहाभारतेin the revered Mahabharata

वनपर्वणिin the Forest Book (Vana Parva)

नलोपाख्यानपर्वणिin the section (parvan) of the Nala-episode

ऋतुपर्णस्वदेशगमनेin (the chapter on) Rituparna's going to his own country

सप्तसप्ततितमःseventy-seventh (ordinal)

अध्यायःchapter

Speaker

नल उवाच

Characters & Entities

Mahābhārata

Vana Parva

Nalopākhyāna

Ṛ

Ṛtūparṇa

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

As a chapter-colophon, the line does not teach through a direct maxim; its ethical force is structural: it signals a turning point where journeys and returns set the stage for the ripening of earlier deeds, reminding the reader that actions lead to outcomes across time and circumstance.

What is happening in the narrative?

This is the formal closing statement of the chapter, identifying the text as part of the Mahābhārata’s Vana Parva, within the Nalopākhyāna episode, and specifying the chapter’s theme as Ṛtūparṇa’s journey back to his own land.