Shloka 8
Adhyaya 3 — The Dharmapakshis’ Past-Life Curse and Indra’s Test of Truthfulness
क्षितावक्षततेजास्त्वं कृमीणामिव शुष्यताम् ।
गजघण्टां समुत्पाट्य कृतवान् दुःखरेचनम् ॥
kṣitāvakṣata-tejās tvaṃ kṛmīṇām iva śuṣyatām /
gaja-ghaṇṭāṃ samutpāṭya kṛtavān duḥkharecanam //
Deine Kraft schwindet und verzehrt sich, wie Würmer, die austrocknen. Indem du die Elefantenglocke abrissest, bewirktest du eine schmerzhafte Austreibung (das heißt, ein unerquicklich-miserables Ergebnis).
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FAQs
The verse functions as a reprimand: reckless or improper action leads to the wasting of one’s tejas (vital potency) and culminates in painful results. The imagery warns that strength and status are fragile when misused, and that harmful deeds ‘rip away’ one’s own well-being.
This verse is not directly sarga/pratisarga/vaṃśa/manvantara/vaṃśānucarita data. It best aligns indirectly with vaṃśānucarita-style narrative instruction (didactic counsel embedded in story), rather than cosmological creation or manvantara chronology.
Tejas symbolizes inner radiance and disciplined power. ‘Tearing off the elephant-bell’ suggests a violent, prideful disruption of order (elephant as emblem of strength/royal power; bell as regulated signal). The ‘painful purging’ implies that disorderly acts force a cleansing through suffering—karma expelling impurity via duḥkha.