Shloka 7

Cyavana’s Yogic Display and Kuśika’s Recognition of Tapas (च्यवन-योगप्रभावः कुशिकस्य तपःप्रशंसा च)

Devanagari script

च्यवन उवाच सहस्रन॑ नाहमहामि किं वा त्वं मन्‍्यसे नृप । सदृशं दीयतां मूल्यं स्वबुद्ध्या निश्चयं कुरु

Transliteration

Cyavana uvāca: sahasreṇa nāham ahāmi kiṁ vā tvaṁ manyase nṛpa | sadṛśaṁ dīyatāṁ mūlyaṁ svabuddhyā niścayaṁ kuru ||

Translation

Cyavana said: “I am not to be bought for a mere thousand (coins). What do you think, O king? Give a price that truly befits my worth; reflect with your own discernment and decide what that should be.”

Word by Word

• {'Cyavana uvāca': 'Cyavana said', 'sahasreṇa': 'for/with a thousand (coins)

• at the price of a thousand', 'na': 'not', 'aham': 'I', 'ahāmi': 'am to be bought / am purchasable (sense: ‘fit to be sold’)', 'kim vā': 'or what?

• indeed what?', 'tvam': 'you', 'manyase': 'think, consider, deem', 'nṛpa': 'O king', 'sadṛśam': 'befitting, appropriate, commensurate', 'dīyatām': 'let it be given

• give (imperative/passive nuance)', 'mūlyam': 'price, value, worth', 'svabuddhyā': 'by your own understanding/judgment', 'niścayam': 'a decision, determination', 'kuru': 'do, make'}

Speaker

च्यवन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• च्यवन (Cyavana)
• नृप (a king, unnamed here)
• सहस्र (a thousand coins/mudrās as the proposed price)
• मूल्य (price/value)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Worth and recompense should be proportionate and guided by dharma: one should not reduce a person—especially a venerable sage—to a trivial monetary valuation. The king is urged to use independent judgment (svabuddhi) to determine what is truly appropriate (sadṛśa).

What is happening in the narrative?

Cyavana addresses a king who appears to be offering (or proposing) a fixed payment of a thousand coins. Cyavana rejects that as inadequate and instructs the king to decide, through his own discernment, a fitting value—framing the issue as one of propriety and ethical judgment rather than mere transaction.