Shloka 9
महाभिष-गङ्गा-दर्शनं वसूनां शापकथनं च
Mahābhiṣa Encounters Gaṅgā; The Vasus Explain Their Curse
अष्टक उवाच यदेनसस्ते पततस्तुदन्ति भीमा भौमा राक्षसास्तीक्ष्णदंष्टा: । कथं भवन्ति कथमाभवन्ति कथंभूता गर्भभूता भवन्ति,अष्टकने पूछा--तीखी दाढ़ोंवाले पृथ्वीके वे भयंकर राक्षस पापवश आकाशसे गिरते हुए जिन जीवोंको सताते हैं, वे गिरकर कैसे जीवित रहते हैं? किस प्रकार इन्द्रिय आदिसे युक्त होते हैं? और कैसे गर्भमें आते हैं?
Aṣṭaka uvāca | yadenasās te patatas tudanti bhīmā bhaumā rākṣasās tīkṣṇadaṃṣṭrāḥ | kathaṃ bhavanti katham ābhavanti kathaṃbhūtā garbhabhūtā bhavanti ||
Aṣṭaka said: “By what sin do those fearsome, earth-born rākṣasas with razor-sharp fangs torment beings as they fall? How do such fallen beings continue to exist after the fall? In what manner do they come to be—how do they take form and become embodied—and how do they enter the state of being in the womb?”
अष्टक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames suffering and post-mortem experience in terms of enas (moral fault) and karmic causality, and it links that causality to the mechanics of embodiment—how a being persists, takes form, and enters the womb for rebirth.
Aṣṭaka is questioning a teacher/interlocutor about a terrifying otherworldly ordeal: beings falling and being tormented by sharp-fanged rākṣasas. He asks why this happens (what sin causes it) and how those beings subsequently exist and become embodied again, including their entry into the womb.