Shloka 19

Aṣṭāvakra–Strī-saṃvāda: Dhṛti, hospitality, and a dispute on autonomy

Devanagari script

इष्टं किल गिरौ स्थान तद्दिव्यमिति शुश्रुम । नित्यं संनिहितो देवस्तथा ते पार्षदा: स्मृता:,इति श्रीमहाभारते अनुशासनपर्वणि दानधर्मपर्वणि अष्टावक्रदिक्संवादे एकोनविंशो5 ध्याय: इस प्रकार श्रीमहाभारत अनुशासनपर्वके अन्तर्गत दानधर्मपर्वमें अष्ावक्र और उत्तर दिशाका संवादविषयक उत्नीसवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ

Transliteration

iṣṭaṃ kila girau sthānaṃ tad divyam iti śuśruma | nityaṃ saṃnihito devas tathā te pārṣadāḥ smṛtāḥ ||

Translation

„Wir haben in der Tat gehört, dass es auf dem Berge einen geliebten Ort gibt—wahrhaft göttlich. Dort, so heißt es, ist die Gottheit stets gegenwärtig, und auch ihre Gefolgsleute werden als dort verweilend erinnert.“

Word by Word

• {'iṣṭam': 'desired, cherished, beloved

• a favored (sacred) place', 'kila': 'indeed, it is said

• a particle indicating report/tradition', 'girau': 'on the mountain (locative of giri)', 'sthānam': 'place, site, abode', 'tat': 'that', 'divyam': 'divine, celestial, sacred', 'iti': 'thus

• quotation marker', 'śuśruma': 'we have heard (perfect of √śru)', 'nityam': 'always, perpetually', 'saṃnihitaḥ': 'present, near at hand, in attendance', 'devaḥ': 'a god

• the deity', 'tathā': 'so, likewise', 'te': "his/your/that (contextual pronoun)

• here: 'his' attendants", 'pārṣadāḥ': 'attendants, retinue-members (of a deity/king)', 'smṛtāḥ': 'are remembered/are traditionally known (past passive participle of √smṛ)'}

Speaker

वदान्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

• deva (a deity)
• pārṣadāḥ (divine attendants)
• giri (mountain)
• divya-sthāna (divine place)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the authority of received tradition—what is 'heard' and 'remembered'—in identifying sacred places and the continuous presence of the divine there. Ethically, it supports reverence for holy sites and confidence that devotion and dharmic acts performed in such places are grounded in established testimony.

What is happening in the narrative?

The speaker reports a well-known tradition: a particular mountain-site is regarded as a divine abode where the deity is perpetually present, along with the deity’s attendants. This functions as a contextual affirmation of the sanctity of the location being discussed in the dialogue.