Shloka 17
Uttaṅka’s Petition for Madayantī’s Divine Earrings (Maṇikuṇḍala) — Agreement, Proof, and Vigilance
भवता त्वभ्यनुज्ञाता: शिष्या: प्रत्यवरा मम । उपपन्ना द्विजश्रेष्ठ शशशो5थ सहस्रश:,द्विजश्रेष्ठ! मेरे बाद सैकड़ों और हजारों शिष्य आपकी सेवामें आये और अध्ययन पूरा करके आपकी आज्ञा लेकर चले गये (केवल मैं ही यहाँ पड़ा हुआ हूँ)
bhavatā tv abhyanujñātāḥ śiṣyāḥ pratyavarā mama | upapannā dvijaśreṣṭha śaśaśo ’tha sahasraśaḥ ||
Uttaṅka said: “With your permission, O best of the twice-born, disciples who came after me—hundreds and even thousands—have completed their studies, received your leave, and departed. Yet I alone remain here, still held back.”
उत्तडुक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical tension between personal impatience and disciplined obedience within the guru–śiṣya framework: others have completed their course and been formally dismissed, while the speaker feels left behind, implying a lesson about endurance, humility, and the proper completion of duty before seeking release.
Uttaṅka addresses his teacher (honorifically ‘dvijaśreṣṭha’), stating that many later students have come, finished their studies, received permission to depart, and left—whereas he alone remains, suggesting he has not yet been granted leave or is still bound by an unresolved obligation.