Shloka 27
पात्रलक्षण-परिक्षा (Pātra-Lakṣaṇa Parīkṣā) — Criteria for a Worthy Recipient
पश्य चन्द्रे कृतं लक्ष्म समुद्रो लवणोदकः: । तथा भगसहस््रेण महेन्द्र: परिचिल्वित:,माधव! देखिये, ब्राह्मणोंका कैसा प्रभाव है, उन्होंने चन्द्रमामें कलंक लगा दिया, समुद्रका पानी खारा बना दिया तथा देवराज इन्द्रके शरीरमें एक हजार भगके चिह्न उत्पन्न कर दिये और फिर उन्हींके प्रभावसे वे भग नेत्रके रूपमें परिणत हो गये; जिनके कारण शतक्रतु इन्द्र 'सहस्राक्ष' नामसे प्रसिद्ध हुए
paśya candre kṛtaṃ lakṣma samudro lavaṇodakaḥ | tathā bhagasahasreṇa mahendraḥ paricilvitaḥ ||
Vāyu said: “Look—by the power of the Brāhmaṇas a blemish was set upon the Moon; the ocean’s waters were made salty; and Mahendra (Indra) was marked with a thousand ‘bhaga’-signs. Later, by that same influence, those marks became ‘eyes’, and thus Śatakratu Indra came to be renowned as ‘Sahasrākṣa’ (the thousand-eyed).”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical potency attributed to Brāhmaṇical tapas and speech: it can impose consequences on even cosmic entities, and it also has the capacity to transmute misfortune into a new, meaningful form—suggesting responsibility in the use of spiritual power and the possibility of redemptive transformation.
Vāyu points to well-known mythic outcomes credited to Brāhmaṇas’ influence: a blemish on the Moon, the ocean becoming salt-water, and Indra being marked with a thousand ‘bhaga’ signs that later become ‘eyes’, explaining Indra’s epithet ‘Sahasrākṣa’ (thousand-eyed).