Shloka 6

पञ्चमहाभूतगुण-इन्द्रियनिग्रह-उपदेशः | Teaching on the Qualities of the Five Elements and Sense-Control

Devanagari script

कुवलाश्च इति ख्यात इक्ष्वाकुरपराजित: । कथं नामविपर्यासाद्‌ धुन्धुमारत्वमागत:,“विप्रवर! अब मैं यथार्थरूपसे यह सुनना चाहता हूँ कि इक्ष्वाकुवंशमें जो कुवलाश्व नामसे विख्यात विजयी राजा हो गये हैं, वे क्‍यों नाम बदलकर “धुन्धुमार' कहलाने लगे?

Transliteration

kuvalāśva iti khyāta ikṣvākur aparājitaḥ | kathaṁ nāma-viparyāsād dhundhumāratvam āgataḥ ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “How did the unconquered king of the Ikṣvāku line, famed by the name Kuvalāśva, come—through a change of name—to be known as Dhundhumāra?”

Word by Word

कुवलाश्वःKuvalāśva (proper name)

चand

इतिthus (quotative)

ख्यातःrenowned, famed

इक्ष्वाकुof Ikṣvāku (dynasty/ancestor)

अपराजितःunconquered, victorious

कथम्how?

नामindeed; (also) name

विपर्यासात्from/owing to a change (reversal)

धुन्धुमारत्वम्the state/name ‘Dhundhumāra’

आगतःhas come to / became

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Kuvalāśva

Ikṣvāku (dynasty)

Dhundhumāra

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how a person’s public identity can be reshaped by deeds and the reputation that follows them; a change of name (epithet) often signals a significant moral or heroic episode that becomes the defining marker of one’s life.

What is happening in the narrative?

The narrator Vaiśampāyana frames a question about the celebrated, undefeated Ikṣvāku king Kuvalāśva: why and by what circumstance his well-known name was replaced by the epithet ‘Dhundhumāra’, setting up the story that explains this transformation.