Shloka 6
भूमिभार-निवारणप्रसङ्गः (Bhūmibhāra-nivāraṇa-prasaṅgaḥ) — The Motif of Relieving Earth’s Burden
वितस्थे सो<न्तरिक्षे च हृदयेन विदूयता । यथा तिष्ठति वै कश्चित् खं च गां चान्तरा नर:,तब तक्षक पीड़ित हृदयसे आकाशगमें उसी प्रकार ठहर गया, जैसे कोई मनुष्य आकाश और पृथ्वीके बीचमें लटक रहा हो
vitasthe so 'ntarikṣe ca hṛdayena vidūyatā | yathā tiṣṭhati vai kaścit khaṃ ca gāṃ cāntarā naraḥ ||
Then, his heart burning with anguish, Takṣaka became fixed in mid-air. He hung there as though suspended between sky and earth, like a man left poised in the space between heaven above and the ground below.
शौनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a vivid simile to show how intense pain and fear can immobilize a person, leaving them powerless—suggesting the fragility of embodied life and the inescapability of consequences once suffering (here, Takṣaka’s torment) takes hold.
A person afflicted by Takṣaka’s torment becomes motionless in mid-air, described as if suspended between the sky and the earth—an image of sudden paralysis and helplessness at a critical moment.