Shloka 4

Yayāti’s Request for Youth: Sons’ Refusals and Pūru’s Acceptance (ययातेः यौवन-विनिमयः)

Devanagari script

यः समुत्पतितं क्रोधं क्षमयेह निरस्यति । यथोरगस्त्वचं जीर्णा स वै पुरुष उच्यते,जैसे साँप पुरानी केंचुल छोड़ता है, उसी प्रकार जो मनुष्य उभड़नेवाले क्रोधको यहाँ क्षमाद्वारा त्याग देता है, वही श्रेष्ठ पुरुष कहा गया है

Transliteration

yaḥ samutpatitaṁ krodhaṁ kṣamayehā nirasyati | yathoragas tvacaṁ jīrṇāṁ sa vai puruṣa ucyate ||

Translation

Śukra sprach: „Wie eine Schlange ihre abgetragene Haut abstreift, so ist derjenige, der in dieser Welt den aufwallenden Zorn durch Nachsicht und Vergebung von sich wirft, wahrhaft ein Mann, ein Mensch von Vorzüglichkeit.“

Word by Word

यःwho (he who)

समुत्पतितम्arisen, sprung up

क्रोधम्anger

क्षमयाby forgiveness, through forbearance

इहhere (in this world/at this time)

निरस्यतिcasts off, rejects, throws away

यथाas, just as

उरगःa snake

त्वचम्skin

जीर्णाम्worn-out, old

सःhe, that (person)

वैindeed, surely

पुरुषःman, person

उच्यतेis called, is said

Speaker

शुक्र उवाच

Characters & Entities

Śukra

serpent (uraga)

skin (tvac)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that true human excellence lies in mastering anger: when wrath arises, one should discard it through kṣamā (forbearance/forgiveness), as effortlessly and decisively as a snake sheds an old skin.

What is happening in the narrative?

Śukra is delivering a moral instruction in a didactic context, using a vivid natural simile (a serpent shedding its skin) to counsel restraint and patience as marks of a superior person.