Shloka 246
Uttanka’s Guru-Śuśrūṣā and the Commission to Retrieve the Maṇikuṇḍalas (उत्तङ्क-गुरुशुश्रूषा तथा मणिकुण्डल-आदेशः)
सलिल विप्रमुख्येभ्यो मातड्स्रोतसा विभो | तदनन्तर शंख
salila-vipramukhye-bhyo mātaṅga-srotasā vibho | tadanantaraṁ śaṅkha-cakra-gadā-dhāraṇo bhagavān śrīkṛṣṇas tasmin mārge prakaṭī-bhūya ājagāma | taṁ dṛṣṭvā mahāmatiḥ uttaṅka uvāca— “puruṣottama! prabho! śreṣṭha-brāhmaṇebhyaḥ caṇḍāla-spṛṣṭaṁ tathā apavitraṁ jalaṁ dātuṁ na yuktam” iti ||
مِن الساقية المنسوبة إلى ماتَنْغا (وهي مَنبعٌ يُعَدّ غيرَ طاهر) قُدِّم ماءٌ إلى أعيان البراهمة. ثم ما لبث أن ظهر الربّ شري كṛṣṇa، حاملاً الصَّدَفةَ والقرصَ والهراوة، من الطريق نفسه وأقبل. فلما رآه أُتَّنْكَةُ ذو الرأي السديد قال: «يا بُرُشوتَّما، يا ربّ! لا يليق أن يُعطى البراهمةُ الأفاضل ماءً كهذا غيرَ طاهرٍ قد مسَّه شاندالا.»
उत्तडुक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage foregrounds a dharmic-ethical tension between ritual notions of purity and the presence of the divine: Uttanka insists that offerings to brāhmaṇas must be uncontaminated, while Kṛṣṇa’s immediate manifestation frames the moment as a test or clarification of values—how one judges purity, propriety, and reverence in practice.
Water associated with a socially stigmatized source (mātaṅga-srotas) is involved in an offering context for eminent brāhmaṇas. Right after this, Kṛṣṇa appears bearing His divine weapons. Uttanka, seeing Him, objects that giving caṇḍāla-touched water to brāhmaṇas is improper, directly addressing Kṛṣṇa with a moral protest.