Shloka 32

Jabali Bound by the Monkey — Jabali Bound by the Monkey: Nandayanti’s Ordeal and the Yamuna–Hiranyavati Sacred Corridor

Devanagari script

दशवर्षशतान्येव कौमारे कायपीडनम् यौवने पारमान् भोगान् द्विसहस्रसमास्तथा

Transliteration

daśavarṣaśatānyeva kaumāre kāyapīḍanam yauvane pāramān bhogān dvisahasrasamāstathā

Translation

[Der Vater sprach:] „Tausend Jahre lang wirst du in der Kindheit körperliche Pein erleiden; und in der Jugend wirst du zweitausend Jahre die höchsten Genüsse erfahren.“

Word by Word

• daśa-varṣa-śatāni: ten-year hundreds (i.e., one thousand years)
• daśa-varṣa-śatāni: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: daśa (प्रातिपदिक) + varṣa (प्रातिपदिक) + śata (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Napुṃsakaliṅga (n.), Prathamā/Dvitīyā-vibhakti (Nom./Acc. 1st/2nd), Bahuvacana (pl.); dvigu-samāsa

• eva: indeed/only
• eva: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: eva (अव्यय)
• Form: Avyaya; emphatic particle (niścaya/avadhāraṇa)

• kaumāre: in childhood
• kaumāre: Adhikaraṇa (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kaumāra (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Napुṃsakaliṅga (n.), Saptamī-vibhakti (Locative/7th), Ekavacana (sg.)

• kāya-pīḍanam: bodily torment
• kāya-pīḍanam: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kāya (प्रातिपदिक) + pīḍana (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Napुṃsakaliṅga (n.), Prathamā/Dvitīyā-vibhakti (Nom./Acc. 1st/2nd), Ekavacana (sg.); ṣaṣṭhī-tatpuruṣa: kāyasya pīḍanam

• yauvane: in youth
• yauvane: Adhikaraṇa (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: yauvana (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Napुṃsakaliṅga (n.), Saptamī-vibhakti (Locative/7th), Ekavacana (sg.)

• pāramān: supreme/excellent
• pāramān: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: pārama (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Puṃliṅga (m.), Dvitīyā-vibhakti (Accusative/2nd), Bahuvacana (pl.); viśeṣaṇa of bhogān

• bhogān: enjoyments/pleasures
• bhogān: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: bhoga (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Puṃliṅga (m.), Dvitīyā-vibhakti (Accusative/2nd), Bahuvacana (pl.)

• dvi-sahasra-samāḥ: two thousand years
• dvi-sahasra-samāḥ: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: dvi (प्रातिपदिक) + sahasra (प्रातिपदिक) + samā (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Strīliṅga (f.), Prathamā-vibhakti (Nominative/1st), Bahuvacana (pl.); dvigu-samāsa: dvisahasrāḥ samāḥ

• tathā: thus/likewise
• tathā: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tathā (अव्यय)
• Form: Avyaya; adverb (manner/also)

Speakers

• Narrative voice (the son recounting) reporting the father’s speech to him

Key Themes

• Āyuḥ (lifespan) and its stages
• Karmic fruition across life-periods
• Didactic instruction (upadeśa)
• Human condition: suffering and pleasure

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

{ "primaryRasa": "karuna", "secondaryRasa": "shanta", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

FAQs

Why are the durations (1000 years of childhood, 2000 years of youth) so large compared to ordinary human life?

Purāṇic narration often uses hyperbolic or non-ordinary time-scales to mark extraordinary destinies, semi-divine lifespans, or to emphasize the moral structure of experience (duḥkha/bhoga) rather than provide a demographic norm.

What is the doctrinal point of pairing ‘bodily affliction’ with ‘supreme pleasures’?

The verse frames embodied life as alternating registers of duḥkha and bhoga, preparing the listener for the later teaching that neither suffering nor pleasure is final; both are conditioned and thus to be transcended through dharma and right orientation.

Does this verse connect to tirtha-mahima even though no place is named?

Yes. In the Vāmana Purāṇa’s geography cycles, personal narratives and ethical instruction frequently function as the ‘moral lens’ through which pilgrimage and sacred bathing are interpreted—tirtha acts are not merely spatial but transformative within a life-course.