Shloka 25

उत्तङ्कोपाख्यानप्रारम्भः — Uttanka’s Tapas, Viṣṇu-stuti, and the Dhundhumāra Prophecy

Opening

Devanagari script

प्रमादाद्‌ यत्‌ कृतं ते5भूत्‌ सम्यग्‌ दानेन तज्जय । अलं ते मानमाश्रित्य सततं परवान्‌ भव,यदि प्रमादवश तुम्हारेद्वारा किसीके प्रति कोई अनुचित व्यवहार हो गया हो तो उसे अच्छी प्रकार दानसे संतुष्ट करके वशमें करो। मैं सबका स्वामी हूँ, ऐसे अहंकारको कभी पासमें न आने दो। तुम अपनेको सदा पराधीन समझते रहो

Transliteration

Vaiśampāyana uvāca: pramādād yat kṛtaṃ te ’bhūt samyag dānena taj jaya | alaṃ te mānam āśritya satataṃ paravān bhava ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “Whatever wrong has occurred through your inadvertence—conquer it by making proper gifts and thereby winning the other’s satisfaction. Do not cling to pride; let it not come near you. Always regard yourself as dependent (answerable to others), not as an absolute master.”

Word by Word

• {'vaiśampāyana uvāca': 'Vaiśampāyana said', 'pramādāt': 'from negligence, inadvertence, carelessness', 'yat': 'whatever

• that which', 'kṛtam': 'done, committed', 'te': 'by you

• your', 'abhūt': 'happened, came to be', 'samyak': 'properly, rightly, in a fitting manner', 'dānena': 'by giving

• through gifts/charity (dāna)', 'tat': 'that (fault/act)', 'jaya': 'conquer

• win (vocative used as an address: ‘O conqueror’)', 'alam': 'enough

• do not (as an injunction: ‘have nothing to do with…’)', 'mānam': 'pride, self-conceit, arrogance', 'āśritya': 'having resorted to

• relying upon', 'satatam': 'always, continually', 'paravān': 'dependent on others

• not self-willed', 'bhava': 'be (imperative)'}

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

If harm is done through carelessness, one should rectify it through appropriate generosity that genuinely satisfies the offended party; pride must be rejected, and one should cultivate humility and accountability rather than a sense of absolute mastery.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana delivers a moral instruction: he counsels the addressed person to repair any inadvertent wrongdoing by conciliatory giving (dāna) and to avoid arrogance, urging a continual stance of humility and dependence rather than domineering self-assertion.