Shloka 18
Pūjya-namaskārya-prakaraṇa
On Those Worthy of Honor and Salutation
दैवं तु कथमेतद् वै यदहं मातृदोषतः
daivaṁ tu katham etad vai yad ahaṁ mātṛdoṣataḥ
Matanga said: “But how can this be attributed to fate—this condition of mine that has arisen because of my mother’s fault?”
मतंग उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse questions the easy attribution of suffering to “fate” and points instead to moral causality: one’s condition may arise from specific human faults and actions (here framed as a maternal fault), raising ethical reflection on responsibility, inherited consequences, and the limits of blaming destiny.
Matanga speaks in a reflective, disputative tone, challenging an explanation that his predicament is merely daiva (fate). He argues that it stems from mātṛdoṣa—some fault connected with his mother—thereby shifting the discussion toward causation, culpability, and the ethical interpretation of birth-based circumstances.