Shloka 14

बकवधोत्तर-प्रशमनम् | Post-slaying Stabilization after Baka’s Death

Devanagari script

भक्षयित्वा च मांसानि मानुषाणां प्रकामत: । नृत्याव सहितावावां दत्ततालावनेकश:,“इच्छानुसार मनुष्यमांस खाकर हम दोनों ताल देते हुए साथ-साथ अनेक प्रकारके नृत्य करें!

Transliteration

bhakṣayitvā ca māṁsāni mānuṣāṇāṁ prakāmataḥ | nṛtyāvā sahitāvāvāṁ dattatalāv anekaśaḥ ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana sprach: „Nachdem wir Menschenfleisch nach Herzenslust verzehrt haben, lasst uns beide gemeinsam den Takt mit Klatschen schlagen und vielerlei Tänze aufführen.“

Word by Word

भक्षयित्वाhaving eaten/devoured

चand

मांसानिfleshes/meats

मानुषाणाम्of humans

प्रकामतःat will, as desired

नृत्यावtwo dances / dancing (dual)

सहितौtogether, accompanied (the two of us)

आवाम्we two

दत्ततालौkeeping time / giving claps (the two of us)

अनेकशःin many ways, repeatedly

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

human flesh (mānuṣa-māṁsa)

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse functions as a negative exemplar: it depicts the celebration of cruelty and taboo acts, highlighting how adharma is marked not only by harmful deeds but by delight in them—an ethical inversion that the epic repeatedly condemns.

What is happening in the narrative?

A pair (speaking as ‘we two’) proposes that after freely consuming human flesh, they will clap to keep rhythm and dance together in many ways—portraying a scene of grotesque revelry that signals dangerous, unrighteous characters within the story.