Shloka 25

Vyāsa’s Boon-Offer and Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Remorse in the Forest Assembly (आश्रमवासिक पर्व, अध्याय ३६)

Devanagari script

राजन मृत्युरनिष्टोडयं भविता ते वृथाग्निना । न चोपायं प्रपश्यामि मोक्षणे जातवेदस:

Transliteration

rājan mṛtyur aniṣṭo 'yaṃ bhavitā te vṛthāgninā | na copāyaṃ prapaśyāmi mokṣaṇe jātavedasaḥ ||

Translation

那罗陀说道：“大王啊，死于这区区林火，实非相称。然而我看不出有任何办法能从这炽烈之火——阇多吠陀（Jātavedas）——中脱身。”

Word by Word

• राजन्: O king
• Type: Noun
• Root: राजन्
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• मृत्युः: death
• मृत्युः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: मृत्यु
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• अनिष्टः: undesirable, improper
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अनिष्ट
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• उद्यम्: effort/undertaking (here: this happening/occurrence)
• Type: Noun
• Root: उद्यम
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• भविता: will be
• Type: Verb
• Root: भू
• Form: Periphrastic Future (लुट्), 3rd, Singular

• ते: of you / your
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: युष्मद्
• Form: Genitive, Singular

• वृथा: in vain; wrongly; undeservedly
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: वृथा

• अग्निना: by fire
• अग्निना: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: अग्नि
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Singular

• न: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• उपायम्: means, remedy
• उपायम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: उपाय
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• प्रपश्यामि: I see, I perceive
• Type: Verb
• Root: प्र√पश्
• Form: Present (लट्), 1st, Singular

• मोक्षणे: in (the matter of) release/escape
• मोक्षणे: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: मोक्षण
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• जातवेदसः: of Jātavedas (Agni)
• Type: Noun
• Root: जातवेदस्
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Singular

Speaker

नारद उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Nārada
• King (rājan)
• Agni (Jātavedas)
• forest-fire (implied by vṛthāgni / context)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even a great king’s end should accord with propriety and dharma; yet in moments of overwhelming danger, human agency may find no visible remedy, highlighting the tension between right order and inexorable fate.

What is happening in the narrative?

Nārada addresses the king as a forest-fire closes in. He laments that dying in such a common blaze is unfitting, but admits he sees no practical way to escape the fire’s grasp.