Shloka 5
Dharma-vyādha on the Subtlety of Dharma, Karma, and the Continuity of the Jīva (Āraṇyaka-parva 200)
ततः स मामश्चो भूत्वा तत्रावहद् यत्र बभूवोलूक: | अथैनं स राजा पप्रच्छ प्रतिजानाति मां भवानिति,“तब इन्द्रद्युम्न अश्व बनकर मुझे वहाँतक ले गये, जहाँ उलूक रहता था। वहाँ जाकर राजाने उससे पूछा--“क्या आप मुझे जानते हैं?'
tataḥ sa mām aśvo bhūtvā tatrāvahat yatra babhūvolūkaḥ | athainaṃ sa rājā papraccha pratijānāti māṃ bhavān iti |
Then he, having become a horse, carried me to the place where Ulūka was staying. When we arrived there, the king questioned him: “Do you recognize me?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethical weight of identity and recognition: a king seeks acknowledgment not through force but through direct inquiry, suggesting that truth about persons and past deeds is to be established by testimony and remembrance rather than assumption.
Indradyumna takes the form of a horse and transports the narrator to Ulūka’s location; upon reaching him, the king initiates a crucial exchange by asking Ulūka whether he recognizes him.