Shloka 21
Nahūṣa’s Pride, the Ṛṣi-Borne Palanquin, and the Search for Indra (नहुष-इन्द्राणी-प्रकरणम्)
शल्य उवाच एवमुकक्त्वा तु तां देवीं विसृज्य च वराननाम् | विमाने योजयित्वा च ऋषीन् नियममास्थितान्,शल्य कहते हैं--राजन्! सुन्दर मुखवाली शची देवीसे ऐसा कहकर नहुषने उन्हें विदा कर दिया और यम-नियमका पालन करनेवाले बड़े-बड़े ऋषि-मुनियोंका अपमान करके अपनी पालकीमें जोत दिया। वह ब्राह्मणद्रोही नरेश बल पाकर उन्मत्त हो गया था। मद और बलसे गर्वित हो स्वेच्छाचारी दुष्टात्मा नहुषने उन महर्षियोंको अपना वाहन बनाया
śalya uvāca evam uktvā tu tāṃ devīṃ visṛjya ca varānanām | vimāne yojayitvā ca ṛṣīn niyamam āsthitān |
Śalya said: “Having spoken thus to that goddess of lovely face, Nahūṣa dismissed her. Then, violating the reverence due to great seers who were established in self-restraint, he yoked those ṛṣis to his aerial car/palanquin as if they were beasts of burden. Empowered by his newfound might, that king became intoxicated with pride; driven by arrogance and lawless will, he made the sages his conveyance—an act of grave adharma and hostility toward the Brahminical order.”
शल्य उवाच