Shloka 11

ययातिपतन-कारणम् (The Cause of Yayāti’s Fall) — Nārada’s Counsel on Pride and Reconciliation

Devanagari script

यथा सत्येन मे धर्मो यथा सत्येन पावक: । प्रीतः शतक्रतुश्चैव तेन सत्येन खं ब्रज

Transliteration

yathā satyena me dharmo yathā satyena pāvakaḥ | prītaḥ śatakratuś caiva tena satyena khaṃ braja ||

Translation

Nārada sprach: „Wie mein Dharma auf Wahrheit gründet und wie selbst das Feuer (Agni) durch Wahrheit getragen wird; wie auch Śatakratu (Indra) an der Wahrheit Gefallen findet—kraft eben dieser Wahrheit, geh zum Himmel (erlange die himmlische Welt).“

Word by Word

यथाjust as / in the manner that

सत्येनby truth

मेof me / my

धर्मःdharma / righteousness

यथाjust as

सत्येनby truth

पावकःfire (Agni)

प्रीतःpleased

शतक्रतुःIndra (the 'hundred-rited' one)

चand

एवindeed / just

तेनby that

सत्येनby (that) truth

खम्the sky / heaven

ब्रजgo

Speaker

नारद उवाच

Characters & Entities

Nārada

Dharma

Pāvaka (Agni/Fire)

Śatakratu (Indra)

Kha (sky/heaven)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Truth (satya) is presented as the sustaining force behind dharma and even the cosmic order symbolized by Agni and Indra; steadfast truthfulness becomes a moral power that grants spiritual merit and a blessed destiny.

What is happening in the narrative?

Nārada pronounces a benediction grounded in the authority of truth: invoking truth as the basis of his own dharma and as that which pleases the gods, he directs the addressee to ‘go to the sky,’ i.e., to attain a heavenly state as the fruit of truth.