Shloka 39
Adhyaya 63 — The Birth of Svarocis and the Rescue of Manoramā: The Astra-Heart and the Healing of Curses
राक्षस उवाच ब्रह्ममित्रो 'ष्टधा भिन्नमायुर्वेदमधीतवान् । त्रयोदशाधिकरञ्च प्रगृह्याथर्वणो द्विजः ॥
rākṣasa uvāca brahmamitraḥ 'ṣṭadhā bhinnam āyurvedam adhītavān | trayodaśādhika-rañca pragṛhya atharvaṇo dvijaḥ ||
The rākṣasa said: “The twice-born Brahmamitra, an Atharvan priest, had mastered Āyurveda, divided into eight branches; and, having undertaken that discipline, he also possessed an additional thirteenfold set of divisions (sections/authorities).”
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FAQs
Sacred knowledge is not merely information to be seized; it is to be received through eligibility, humility, and right relationship (guru–śiṣya). The verse sets up the later moral consequence: unauthorized appropriation becomes the seed of downfall.
Primarily Ākhyāna (narrative episode) rather than sarga/pratisarga/manvantara/vaṃśa/vaṃśānucarita; it functions as an instructive tale embedded within the Purāṇic narration.
The ‘eightfold’ Āyurveda evokes ordered, integrated knowledge; when taken without inner discipline, that same power destabilizes the taker—foreshadowing the transformation into a rākṣasa-like state (dominated by grasping and contempt).