Shloka 10
Adhyāya 14: Sudēṣṇā Sends Sairandhrī to Kīcaka’s House (सुदेष्णा–सैरन्ध्री–कीचक संवादः)
प्रभूतनागा श्वरथं महाजन समृद्धियुक्तं बहुपानभोजनम् । मनोहरं काञ्चनचित्रभूषणं गृहं महच्छोभयतामियं मम
vaiśampāyana uvāca | prabhūtanāgāśva-rathaṃ mahājana-samṛddhi-yuktaṃ bahu-pāna-bhojanam | manoharaṃ kāñcana-citra-bhūṣaṇaṃ gṛhaṃ mahat śobhayatām iyaṃ mama |
Vaiśampāyana said: “My great house is furnished with many elephants, horses, and chariots; it is attended by a large retinue and endowed with abundant wealth. There is plenty of food and drink within. It is pleasing to behold, adorned with golden decorative designs. Let this beautiful woman come and grace my vast dwelling.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how material abundance and aesthetic splendor can be used as persuasion. Ethically, it points to the risk of reducing a person—here, a woman—to an ornament for one’s status, revealing the tension between desire-driven speech and dharmic restraint.
A speaker (reported by Vaiśampāyana) boasts of his household’s riches—elephants, horses, chariots, attendants, plentiful food and drink, and golden decorations—and invites a beautiful woman to come to his large house, implying she would enhance its splendor.