Shloka 22
भृगुवंश-प्रस्तावना तथा पुलोमा–अग्नि-संवादः
Bhrigu Lineage Preface and the Pulomā–Agni Dialogue
तमपृच्छत् ततो रक्ष: पावकं ज्वलितं तदा | शंस मे कस्य भार्येयमग्ने पृच्छे ऋतेन वै,तब पुलोमाने उस समय उस प्रज्वलित पावकसे पूछा--“अग्निदेव! मैं सत्यकी शपथ देकर पूछता हूँ, बताओ, यह किसकी पत्नी है?”
tam apṛcchat tato rakṣaḥ pāvakaṁ jvalitaṁ tadā | śaṁsa me kasya bhāryeyam agne pṛcchē ṛtena vai ||
Then the rākṣasa questioned the blazing Fire: “Tell me—whose wife is this? O Agni, I ask you under the solemn bond of truth.”
शौनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a moral dilemma: ‘truth’ can be invoked as a tool of coercion. It raises the dharmic question of whether speaking a fact is obligatory when it foreseeably enables harm, and how vows or appeals to truth interact with the duty to protect.
A rākṣasa confronts the blazing Agni and demands identification of a woman—asking whose wife she is—pressing the question with an appeal to ṛta (truth/oath). The scene sets up conflict between compelled disclosure and the consequences of that disclosure.