वैशंपायन उवाच
एवं प्रयतमानानां वृष्णीनाम् अन्धकैः सह ॥
कालो गृहाणि सर्वेषां परिचक्राम नित्यशः ॥
करालो विकटो मुण्डः पुरुषः कृष्णपिङ्गलः ॥
गृहाण्य् अवेक्ष्य वृष्णीनां नादृश्यत पुनः क्व चित् ॥
उत्पेदिरे महावाता दारुणाश् चा दिने दिने ॥
वृष्ण्यन्धकविनाशाय बहवो रोमहर्षणाः ॥
विवृद्धमूषका रथ्या विभिन्नमणिकास् तथा ॥
चीचीकूचीति वाश्यन्त्यः सारिका वृष्णिवेश्मसु ॥
नोपशाम्यति शब्दश् च स दिवारात्रम् एव हि ॥
vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca
evaṃ prayatamānānāṃ vṛṣṇīnām andhakaiḥ saha ||
kālo gṛhāṇi sarveṣāṃ paricakrāma nityaśaḥ ||
karālo vikaṭo muṇḍaḥ puruṣaḥ kṛṣṇapiṅgalaḥ ||
gṛhāṇy avekṣya vṛṣṇīnāṃ nādṛśyata punaḥ kva cit ||
utpedire mahāvātā dāruṇāś cā dine dine ||
vṛṣṇyandhakavināśāya bahavo romaharṣaṇāḥ ||
vivṛddhamūṣakā rathyā vibhinnamaṇikās tathā ||
cīcīkūcīti vāśyantyaḥ sārikā vṛṣṇiveśmasu ||
nopaśāmyati śabdaś ca sa divārātram eva hi ||
Vaishampayana said: Thus, as the Vrishnis together with the Andhakas strove to keep their vow, Time ceaselessly circled through the houses of them all. A terrible, hideous, bald man, dark-tawny in hue, surveyed the houses of the Vrishnis and was then nowhere seen again. Great winds arose — fearsome, day after day, many that made the hair stand on end — portending the destruction of the Vrishnis and Andhakas. The streets teemed with swarming mice, pots lay broken, and myna birds shrieked 'chichi-kuchi' in the dwellings of the Vrishnis; that din did not cease, neither by day nor by night.
30a352d4460e · published Jun 21, 2026, 1:10:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Time itself, embodied in the terrible bald apparition, 'circles through the houses' of the doomed — an image of inescapable death that has looked into every home. It is deeply significant that these portents appear precisely when the clan is outwardly 'striving to keep its vow': abstinence adopted out of fear rather than purity of heart averts no calamity. Swarming mice, broken vessels, the incessant screeching of birds — the world itself proclaims what is to come. The verse teaches that Time-Kāla, the instrument of the supreme will, visits everyone at the appointed hour and no bolt can bar Him; and that outward piety that has not penetrated the heart is powerless to avert what is foreordained, for true protection lies in purity of soul, not in the outward observance of rules.