Shloka 20
Adhyāya 60: Devagaṇa–Ṛṣi–Prajāpatīnāṃ Sambhavaḥ
Origins of Divine Classes, Sages, and Progenitors
पितामहानां सर्वेषां दैवेनानिष्टचेतसाम् । कार्त्स्न्येनितन्ममाचक्ष्व यथावृत्तं द्विजोत्तम,द्विजश्रेष्ठट जान पड़ता है, प्रारब्धने ही प्रेरणा करके मेरे सब प्रपितामहोंके मनको युद्धरूपी अनिष्टमें लगा दिया था। उनके इस सम्पूर्ण वृत्तानन््तका आप यथावत् रूपसे वर्णन करें
pitāmahānāṁ sarveṣāṁ daivenāniṣṭa-cetasām | kārtsnyenaitanmamācakṣva yathāvṛttaṁ dvijottama ||
阇那美阇耶王说道：“噢，最尊贵的二生圣者，请你将往事如实、详尽地告诉我：命运如何使我一切先祖的心意转向不祥之途——转向战争的灾厄。”
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the Mahābhārata’s ethical tension between human agency and daiva (fate): catastrophic conflict arises when minds are drawn toward aniṣṭa (harm), and the listener seeks a truthful, complete account to understand causality and responsibility.
King Janamejaya requests the sage to narrate, in full and exactly as it happened, how his ancestors’ minds became inclined toward the disastrous course that culminated in war, setting up a detailed recounting of antecedent events.