Shloka 6

Adhyāya 227: Duryodhana’s Deliberation and the Ghoṣa-yātrā Pretext

Dvaita-vana

Devanagari script

यैर्दश्ा सा तदा देवी तस्या रूपेण गच्छती । न तु तत्‌ स्वाहया कर्म कृतं जानाति वै जन:,दूसरे लोगोंने उस गरुडी पक्षिणीसे कहा--“तूने ही यह अनर्थ उपस्थित किया है'। यह उन लोगोंका विचार था, जिन्होंने स्वाहादेवीको गरुडीके रूपमें जाते देखा था। लोग यह नहीं जानते थे कि यह सारा कार्य स्वाहाने किया है

Transliteration

yair dṛṣṭā sā tadā devī tasyā rūpeṇa gacchatī | na tu tat svāhayā karma kṛtaṁ jānāti vai janaḥ ||

Translation

Those who had seen the goddess moving about in that very form (of the Garuḍī-bird) concluded, “It is you who have brought about this calamity.” Yet people did not know that the deed had in fact been carried out by Svāhā.

Word by Word

• {'yair': 'by whom

• by those who (instrumental plural of relative pronoun)', 'dṛṣṭā': 'seen

• beheld (past passive participle, feminine nominative singular)', 'sā': 'she

• that woman/goddess (feminine pronoun)', 'tadā': 'then

• at that time', 'devī': 'goddess

• divine lady', 'tasyā rūpeṇa': 'in her/that form

• by means of that appearance', 'gacchatī': 'going

• moving about (present participle, feminine nominative singular)', 'na tu': 'but not

• however not', 'tat': 'that (deed/matter)', 'svāhayā': 'by Svāhā (instrumental singular)', 'karma': 'act

• action', 'kṛtam': 'done

• performed', 'jānāti': 'knows

• understands', 'vai': 'indeed

• certainly (emphatic particle)', 'janaḥ': 'people

Speaker

मार्कण्डेय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Mārkaṇḍeya
• Svāhā
• Devī (goddess)
• Garuḍī (female Garuḍa-like bird form)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores ethical caution in judgment: people often assign blame based on what they saw (an outward form), but true responsibility may lie elsewhere. It warns against hasty conclusions and highlights the gap between appearance (rūpa) and actual agency (kartṛtva).

What is happening in the narrative?

Some observers had seen the goddess moving in the form of a Garuḍī-bird and therefore accused that visible figure of causing the misfortune. The narrator clarifies that the public did not realize the action was actually performed by Svāhā, who was the real agent behind the event.