Shloka 3

Nala’s Embassy to Damayantī and the Gods’ Proposal (नलस्य दूतत्वं देवप्रस्तावश्च)

Devanagari script

तत: कदाचिदेकान्ते विविक्त इव शाद्वले | दुःखार्ता भरतश्रेष्ठा निषेदु: सह कृष्णया,तदनन्तर एक दिन एकान्त एवं पवित्र स्थानमें, जहाँ छोटी-छोटी हरी दूर्वा आदि घास उगी हुई थी, वे भरतवंशके श्रेष्ठ पुरुष दुःखसे पीड़ित हो द्रौपदीके साथ बैठे और धनंजय अर्जुनके लिये चिन्ता करते हुए अत्यन्त दु:खमें भरे अश्रुगदूगद कण्ठसे उन्हींकी बातें करने लगे। अर्जुनके वियोगसे पीड़ित उन समस्त पाण्डवोंको शोकसागरने अपनी लहरोंमें डुबो दिया

Transliteration

tataḥ kadācid ekānte vivikta iva śādvale | duḥkhārtā bharataśreṣṭhā niṣeduḥ saha kṛṣṇayā ||

Translation

其后有一次，他们在一处幽僻之地——静寂的青草地上——婆罗多族中最卓越者，因忧苦所迫，与黑姬（德罗帕蒂）一同坐下。他们思念担忧檀那阇耶（阿周那），泪塞咽喉，只谈论他的事；因与阿周那别离而受煎熬的般度诸子，尽被愁海之浪所淹没。

Word by Word

ततःthen, thereafter

कदाचित्once, at some time

एकान्तेin a secluded place

विविक्तेin a solitary/isolated (place)

इवas if, like

शाद्वलेon grassy ground/turf

दुःखार्ताःafflicted by sorrow

भरतश्रेष्ठाःthe best of the Bharatas

निषेदुःsat down

सहtogether with

कृष्णयाwith Kṛṣṇā (Draupadī)

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Pāṇḍavas

Kṛṣṇā (Draupadī)

śādvala (grassy patch/turf)

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?

Even the righteous and heroic must sometimes withdraw into solitude to bear grief; dharma is not only public action but also the disciplined endurance of suffering, supported by companionship and restraint.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana describes the Pāṇḍavas, distressed, sitting with Draupadī in a secluded grassy place—an intimate pause in the forest narrative that frames their sorrow and the emotional strain of exile.