Shloka 46

Aṣṭāvakra’s Visit to Kubera: Hospitality, Temptation, and the Ethics of Restraint (अष्टावक्र-वैश्रवणोपाख्यानम्)

Devanagari script

युधिष्ठिर महायोगी वीर्यवानक्षयोडव्यय: । 'सावर्णिक मन्वन्तरके समय जो सृष्टि होगी

Transliteration

Māṇḍavya uvāca—acauras tvaṁ caurasaṅkāyāṁ śūle bhinno hāhaṁ tadā.

Translation

قال ماندافيا: «أيها الملك، مع أني لم أكن سارقاً، فقد سُمِّرتُ على وتد لمجرّد الشبهة بالسرقة. ومن ذلك الموضع نفسه سبّحتُ بماهاديڤا (شِيفا). فقال لي: ‘يا خيرَ البراهمة، ستُعتَق من الوتد، وستحيا عشرةَ كُوطي من السنين. وإن كان هذا الوتد قد اخترق جسدك فلن تشعر بألم؛ وستكون بريئاً من كدر النفس وعلل الجسد.’»

Word by Word

• युधिष्ठिर: O Yudhiṣṭhira
• युधिष्ठिर: Sampradana
• Type: Noun
• Root: युधिष्ठिर (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• महायोगी: the great yogin
• महायोगी: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: महायोगिन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• वीर्यवान्: powerful, possessed of valor
• वीर्यवान्: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: वीर्यवत् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• अक्षयः: imperishable
• अक्षयः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अक्षय (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• अव्ययः: unchanging, undecaying
• अव्ययः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अव्यय (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

माण्डव्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Māṇḍavya
• Yudhiṣṭhira
• Mahādeva (Śiva)
• śūla (stake/impalement)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The passage highlights the ethical danger of punishing on mere suspicion and the endurance of an innocent ascetic who turns suffering into devotion; it also presents divine grace as a response to steadfast praise and purity, granting freedom from pain and affliction.

What is happening in the narrative?

Māṇḍavya recounts to Yudhiṣṭhira that he was wrongly impaled as a suspected thief; while on the stake he praised Śiva, who then promised his release, extraordinary longevity, and freedom from pain, disease, and mental distress.