Shloka 343
सहदेवस्य गोसंख्य-तन्तिपाल-रूपेण विराट-समागमः | Sahadeva’s Audience with Virāṭa as Cattle-Enumerator
Tantipāla
प्रच्छन्नाश्चापि रक्षन्ति ते मां नित्यं शुचिस्मिते । अतः कल्याणि! मुझे कोई भी सतीत्वसे विचलित नहीं कर सकता। शुचिस्मिते! यद्यपि मेरे पति गन्धर्वगण इस समय दु:खमें पड़े हैं; तथापि वे बड़े बलवान् हैं और गुप्तरूपसे सदा मेरी रक्षा करते रहते हैं
pracchannāś cāpi rakṣanti te māṁ nityaṁ śucismite | ataḥ kalyāṇi! māṁ ko 'pi satītvase vicalitaṁ na kartum arhati | śucismite! yady api me pati-gandharva-gaṇā etasmin kāle duḥkhe patitāḥ; tathāpi te mahābalāḥ santi, gupta-rūpeṇa ca sadā mama rakṣāṁ kurvanti |
Vaiśampāyana sprach: „Selbst verborgen schützen sie mich unablässig, o du mit dem reinen Lächeln. Darum, glückverheißende Frau, kann niemand mich von meiner Keuschheit abbringen. O du rein Lächelnde, obgleich meine Gandharva-Gemahle jetzt in Not geraten sind, sind sie doch überaus mächtig und wachen in verborgener Gestalt stets über mich und beschützen mich.“
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage underscores steadfastness in satītvam (chastity/ethical fidelity) and the idea that dharmic integrity is safeguarded—here symbolized by powerful protectors who remain unseen—so that coercion or intimidation should not unsettle one’s moral resolve.
The speaker reports that the woman addressed as “śucismitā/kalyāṇī” is under constant, though concealed, protection by her Gandharva husbands. This assurance is used to declare that no one can violate or shake her chastity, even though those protectors are said to be presently afflicted.