अथ दानापदेशेन कुन्ती ब्राह्मणभोजनम् ॥
चक्रे निशि महद् राजन्न् आजग्मुस् तत्र योषितः ॥
ता विहृत्य यथाकामं भुक्त्वा पीत्वा च भारत ॥
जग्मुर् निशि गृहान् एव समनुज्ञाप्य माधवीम् ॥
निषादी पञ्चपुत्रा तु तस्मिन् भोज्ये यदृच्छया ॥
अन्नार्थिनी समभ्यागात् सपुत्रा कालचोदिता ॥
सा पीत्वा मदिरां मत्ता सपुत्रा मदविह्वला ॥
सह सर्वैः सुतै राजंस् तस्मिन्न् एव निवेशने ॥
सुष्वाप विगतज्ञाना मृतकल्पा नराधिप ॥
atha dānāpadeśena kuntī brāhmaṇabhojanam ||
cakre niśi mahad rājann ājagmus tatra yoṣitaḥ ||
tā vihṛtya yathākāmaṃ bhuktvā pītvā ca bhārata ||
jagmur niśi gṛhān eva samanujñāpya mādhavīm ||
niṣādī pañcaputrā tu tasmin bhojye yadṛcchayā ||
annārthinī samabhyāgāt saputrā kālacoditā ||
sā pītvā madirāṃ mattā saputrā madavihvalā ||
saha sarvaiḥ sutai rājaṃs tasminn eva niveśane ||
suṣvāpa vigatajñānā mṛtakalpā narādhipa ||
"Then, under the pretext of alms-giving, Kunti arranged a great feast for brahmins at night, o king; women too came there. Having made merry to their heart's content, having eaten and drunk, o Bharata, they went home at night, having taken leave of Kunti. But one Nishada woman with her five sons, coming by chance to that feast in search of food, driven by her own fate, having drunk strong drink and grown intoxicated, fell asleep with her sons in that very house, overcome by drunkenness, bereft of her senses, as if dead, o lord of men."
c56df52be2f7 · published Jul 12, 2026, 5:03:09 PM UTC
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Here is told a sorrowful chance event — the death of the Nishada woman with her sons. It is telling that the scripture calls their arrival directly "driven by fate" (kala-codita): the Pandavas did not lure them, but destiny brought the uninvited into a doomed house. An inscrutable karma is at work here: by deeds unknown to us from before, these six were fated to perish so, and their death unwittingly served the Pandavas' deliverance. Yet it is telling that this page remains dark and bitter: the death of the innocent is not excused by convenience, and compassion for them is fitting. Here too a shadow falls across a world bound by karma, where the deliverance of some is entwined with the fate of others — and only the higher Providence knows the full measure and justice of such entwining. So the scripture does not hide the tragic duality of the righteous ones' escape.