Adhyaya 18 — Arjuna Declines the Throne; Garga Directs Him to Dattatreya; The Gods Defeat the Daityas through Dattatreya’s Vision and the Movement of Lakshmi
नीलोत्पलाभनयनां पीनश्रोणिपयोधराम् ।
गदन्तीं मधुरां भाषां सर्वैर्योषिद्गुणैर्युताम् ॥
nīlotpalābhanayanāṃ pīnaśroṇipayodharām | gadantīṃ madhurāṃ bhāṣāṃ sarvair yoṣidguṇair yutām ||
Sie hatte Augen wie blaue Lotosblüten, volle Hüften und Brüste, sprach süße Worte und war mit allen Tugenden der Weiblichkeit ausgestattet.
The verse illustrates how sensory description can function as a narrative device to test character. The moral pressure is on the observer: whether one responds with reverence and restraint or with appropriation and violence.
Again, it is didactic narrative rather than cosmological enumeration—used to convey dharma through the psychology of temptation.
Lotus-eyes and sweet speech symbolize the attractive veneer of māyā when apprehended by desire. The text hints that ‘virtues’ perceived externally can be misread as license for possession.