Shloka 23
Uttanka’s Guru-Śuśrūṣā and the Commission to Retrieve the Maṇikuṇḍalas (उत्तङ्क-गुरुशुश्रूषा तथा मणिकुण्डल-आदेशः)
अथ तेनैव मार्गेण शड्खचक्रगदाधर:
atha tenaiva mārgeṇa śaṅkha-cakra-gadā-dharaḥ salila-vipramukhyebhyo mātṛ-srotasā vibho | tad-anantaraṃ śaṅkhaṃ cakraṃ ca gadāṃ dhārayamāṇo bhagavān śrī-kṛṣṇas tenaiva mārgeṇa prakaṭī-bhūya ājagāma | taṃ dṛṣṭvā mahā-matir uttaṅka uvāca— “puruṣottama prabho! bhavataḥ śreṣṭha-brāhmaṇebhyaś caṇḍāla-spṛṣṭaṃ tathā apavitraṃ jalaṃ dātuṃ na yuktam” iti |
তাৰ পাছত সেই একে পথেদি শঙ্খ-চক্ৰ-গদাধাৰী ভগৱান প্ৰকট হ’ল—মাতৃস্ৰোতস নামৰ ধাৰাৰ কাষত, য’ত শ্ৰেষ্ঠ ব্ৰাহ্মণসকল উপস্থিত আছিল। তেওঁক দেখি মহামতি উত্তঙ্ক ক’লে—“পুৰুষোত্তম! প্ৰভু! শ্ৰেষ্ঠ ব্ৰাহ্মণসকলক চাণ্ডাল-স্পৰ্শিত এনে অপবিত্ৰ জল দান কৰা আপোনাৰ পক্ষে যুক্তিসংগত নহয়।”
उत्तडुक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds a dharmic concern about ritual purity: Uttanka challenges the propriety of offering water deemed impure (touched by a Caṇḍāla) to eminent Brahmins, even when the giver is the Lord himself. It sets up a reflection on how social-ritual norms interact with divine purpose and ethical discernment.
Kṛṣṇa appears on the same route, identifiable by his conch, discus, and mace, near the stream called Mātṛ-srotas where leading Brahmins are present. Uttanka, seeing him, objects that it is improper to give those Brahmins water considered impure because it has been touched by a Caṇḍāla.