Shloka 55

इन्द्रस्य पाण्डवैः समागमः

Indra’s Meeting with the Pāṇḍavas

Devanagari script

यक्षाणां घोररूपाणां विविधायुधधारिणाम्‌ | अध्वन्यहमथापश्यमगस्त्यमृषिसत्तमम्‌,वे भयानक यक्ष नाना प्रकारके अस्त्र-शस्त्र लिये हुए थे। रास्तेमें मुझे मुनिश्रेष्ठ अगस्त्यजी दिखायी दिये, जो यमुनाके तटपर कठोर तपस्या कर रहे थे। वह प्रदेश भाँति- भाँतिके पक्षियोंसे व्याप्त और विकसित वृक्षावलियोंसे सुशोभित था

Transliteration

yakṣāṇāṁ ghorarūpāṇāṁ vividhāyudhadhāriṇām | adhvany aham athāpaśyam agastyam ṛṣisattamam |

Translation

Unterwegs sah ich furchterregende Yakṣas, die Waffen vieler Arten trugen. Dann, als ich weiterzog, erblickte ich Agastya—den erhabensten der Weisen—wie er am Ufer der Yamunā strenge Askese übte. Die Gegend war erfüllt von Vögeln mannigfacher Art und geschmückt von Reihen üppig gedeihender Bäume.

Word by Word

• {'yakṣāṇām': 'of the Yakṣas

• a class of powerful semi-divine beings, often guardians of treasures and wilderness spirits', 'ghora-rūpāṇām': 'of terrible/fearsome form', 'vividha': 'various, manifold', 'āyudha': 'weapon

• implement of combat', 'dhāriṇām': 'bearing, carrying', 'adhvani': 'on the road, along the way', 'aham': 'I', 'atha': 'then, thereafter', 'apaśyam': 'I saw, I beheld', 'agastyam': 'Agastya (proper name), a renowned Vedic sage', 'ṛṣi-sattamam': 'the best/foremost among sages', 'tapas/tapasya (implied by context)': 'austerity

• disciplined ascetic practice generating spiritual power', 'yamunā-taṭa (from the given Hindi gloss)': 'the bank of the Yamunā river'}

Speaker

धनेश्वर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Dhaneshvara (speaker)
• Yakṣas
• Agastya
• Yamunā (river)
• weapons (āyudha)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The passage contrasts outward menace (armed, fearsome Yakṣas) with inner spiritual authority (Agastya’s tapas). It suggests that disciplined austerity and sagehood constitute a higher, stabilizing power amid danger and uncertainty, and that sacred presence can transform a threatening landscape into an ordered, auspicious space.

What is happening in the narrative?

Dhaneshvara reports that while traveling he encountered terrifying Yakṣas carrying diverse weapons, and then saw the great sage Agastya performing severe austerities on the Yamunā’s bank, in a region rich with birds and flourishing trees.