संप्रयुक्तश् च कुन्त्या च माद्र्या च भरतर्षभ ॥
जिततन्द्रीस् तदा पाण्डुर् बभूव वनगोचरः ॥
हित्वा प्रासादनिलयं शुभानि शयनानि च ॥
अरण्यनित्यः सततं बभूव मृगयापरः ॥
स चरन् दक्षिणं पार्श्वं रम्यं हिमवतो गिरेः ॥
उवास गिरिपृष्ठेषु महाशालवनेषु च ॥
रराज कुन्त्या माद्र्या च पाण्डुः सह वने वसन् ॥
करेण्वोर् इव मध्यस्थः श्रीमान् पौरंदरो गजः ॥
saṃprayuktaś ca kuntyā ca mādryā ca bharatarṣabha ||
jitatandrīs tadā pāṇḍur babhūva vanagocaraḥ ||
hitvā prāsādanilayaṃ śubhāni śayanāni ca ||
araṇyanityaḥ satataṃ babhūva mṛgayāparaḥ ||
sa caran dakṣiṇaṃ pārśvaṃ ramyaṃ himavato gireḥ ||
uvāsa giripṛṣṭheṣu mahāśālavaneṣu ca ||
rarāja kuntyā mādryā ca pāṇḍuḥ saha vane vasan ||
kareṇvor iva madhyasthaḥ śrīmān pauraṃdaro gajaḥ ||
"And united with Kunti and Madri, O bull of the Bharatas, having conquered sloth, Pandu then became a dweller of the forest. Leaving behind the palace chambers and luxurious beds, he came to live constantly in the forest, devoted to hunting. Wandering over the beautiful southern slope of Mount Himavat, he dwelt on the mountain ridges and in the great sala forests; and Pandu shone, living in the forest with Kunti and Madri, like the resplendent elephant of Indra standing between two she-elephants."
b37e02390245 · published Jul 12, 2026, 4:30:26 PM UTC
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Here Pandu, at the height of his glory, leaves the palace and departs for the forest. This change is telling: the conqueror just now celebrated freely exchanges royal chambers for mountain ridges and forests. In this lies both a mark of detachment and an unobtrusive foreshadowing of fate: "devoted to hunting" (mrigaya-parah) — it is hunting itself that will lead him to the fatal shot at the sage-deer and to the curse that will make the forest his final home. Here is a subtle irony of fate: what now seems the king's pleasant leisure will become the instrument of his death; the passion for hunting — killing for sport — harbors within it the seed of calamity, for violence against creatures does not go without fruit (as the story of Animandavya has already shown). Telling too is Pandu's radiance between his two wives, likened to Indra's elephant: even in the forest he is regal. Thus the scripture, while depicting a happy forest life, quietly prepares its tragic turn.