Shloka 13

Adhyāya 9: Pratiśruta-Dāna

The Duty to Fulfill Promised Gifts

Devanagari script

तत्कृते पापकीं योनिमापन्नो5स्मि प्लवड्भम । तस्मादेवंविध॑ भक्ष्यं भक्षयामि बुभुक्षित:,वानरके इस प्रकार पूछनेपर सियारने उसे उत्तर दिया--'भाई वानर! मैंने ब्राह्मणको देनेकी प्रतिज्ञा करके वह वस्तु उसे नहीं दी थी। इसीके कारण मैं इस पापयोनिमें आ पड़ा हूँ और उसी पापसे भूखा होनेपर मुझे इस तरहका घृणित भोजन करना पड़ता है!

Transliteration

tatkṛte pāpakīṁ yonim āpanno ’smi plavaṅgama | tasmād evaṁvidhaṁ bhakṣyaṁ bhakṣayāmi bubhukṣitaḥ ||

Translation

“Because of that (sin), O monkey, I have fallen into a sinful womb (a degraded birth). Therefore, when hunger presses me, I eat food of this vile kind.” The reply frames present suffering as the moral consequence of a broken promise—especially a pledge made to a brāhmaṇa—showing how adharma ripens into degrading circumstances and compulsions.

Word by Word

• {'tat-kṛte': 'because of that

• on account of that (deed)', 'pāpakīm': 'sinful, impure, blameworthy (feminine accusative singular)', 'yonim': 'womb

• species', 'āpannaḥ asmi': 'I have fallen into

• I have come to be in', 'plavaṅgama': 'monkey (lit. ‘one who goes by leaping’), vocative', 'tasmāt': 'therefore

• for that reason', 'evaṁ-vidham': 'of such a kind

• like this', 'bhakṣyam': 'food

• something to be eaten', 'bhakṣayāmi': 'I eat

• I consume', 'bubhukṣitaḥ': 'hungry

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• plavaṅgama (monkey)
• a jackal (implied by the Hindi narrative gloss: sṛgāla/śṛgāla)
• brāhmaṇa (as recipient of a vow, in the narrative gloss)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

A broken pledge—especially one made in a dharmic context such as a promise to a brāhmaṇa—creates karmic demerit that can lead to degraded birth and humiliating necessities. The verse highlights personal accountability: present misery is traced to prior ethical failure.

What is happening in the narrative?

In a dialogue framed by Bhīṣma’s narration, a speaker (identified in the accompanying gloss as a jackal) answers a monkey’s question by confessing that, due to a past wrongdoing (not fulfilling a promised gift), he has been born in a sinful condition and is compelled, when hungry, to eat disgusting food.