Shloka 9

Portents, Pursuit to the Nalinī, and Yudhiṣṭhira’s Restraint Toward Bhīma

Saugandhika-padma Continuation

Devanagari script

कृतपद्माज्जलिपुटा मत्तषट्पदसेविता: । प्रियतीर्थवना मार्गे प्शेनी: समतिक्रमन्‌,मार्गमें उन्हें अनेक ऐसी पुष्करिणियोंको लाँधचना पड़ा, जिनके घाट और वन देखनेमें बहुत प्रिय लगते थे। मतवाले भ्रमर उनका सेवन करते थे तथा वे सम्पुटित कमलकोषोंसे अलंकृत हो ऐसी जान पड़ती थीं, मानो उन्होंने कमलोंकी अंजलि बाँध रखी थी

Transliteration

kṛtapadmāñjalipuṭā mattṣaṭpadasevitāḥ | priyatīrthavanā mārge śreṇīḥ samatikraman |

Translation

Vaiśampāyana sprach: Auf ihrem Weg kamen sie an vielen Gruppen von Teichen und Tīrthas—heiligen Badeplätzen—vorüber, deren Ufer und Hainen ein wonniger Anblick waren. Trunkene Bienen suchten sie auf, und die Wasser schienen mit geschlossenen Lotosknospen geschmückt, als hielten die Teiche selbst in hohl gefügten Händen ein Lotosopfer dar.

Word by Word

• {'kṛta': 'made, fashioned, formed', 'padma': 'lotus', 'añjali': 'cupped hands in reverence

• an offering gesture', 'puṭa': 'fold, enclosure

• a cupped/closed form', 'matt(a)': 'intoxicated, exhilarated (often by fragrance/nectar)', 'ṣaṭpada': 'bee (lit. ‘six-footed’)', 'sevita': 'frequented, resorted to, attended', 'priya': 'dear, pleasing, delightful', 'tīrtha': 'sacred ford

• holy bathing-place', 'vana': 'forest, grove', 'mārga': 'path, road, route', 'śreṇī': 'row, series, cluster, multitude', 'samatikraman': 'they passed over/along

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• tīrthas (sacred bathing-places)
• ponds/lakes with lotuses
• bees (ṣaṭpada)
• groves/forests (vana)
• path/route (mārga)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse elevates tīrthas and natural purity as supports for dharmic life: sacred places and serene nature are portrayed as inherently auspicious, encouraging reverence, self-restraint, and a pilgrim’s mindful conduct while traveling.

What is happening in the narrative?

The travelers proceed along their route and repeatedly come upon pleasing ponds and pilgrimage spots, surrounded by groves, filled with lotus-buds, and visited by bees—an evocative description of the landscape they traverse.