Shloka 28
Adhyaya 78 — Hymn to Surya and the Distribution of Solar Splendour; Genealogy of Vaivasvata and Chaya’s Line
कृमयो मांसमादाय पादतोऽस्य महीतले ।
पतिष्यन्तीति शापान्तं तस्य चक्रे पिता स्वयम् ॥
kṛmayo māṃsam ādāya pādato 'sya mahītale / patiṣyantīti śāpāntaṃ tasya cakre pitā svayam
“Worms will take the flesh from his feet and fall to the ground”—thus the father himself set a limit and an end to that curse.
FAQs
Even when consequences are incurred, restraint and compassion can delimit suffering; authority is ideally paired with mercy (daṇḍa with anugraha).
Vaṃśānucarita: an etiological detail explaining later attributes or conditions attached to a lineage figure through a curse narrative.
Feet symbolize movement in saṃsāra and ethical ‘path’; the ‘flesh taken from the feet’ suggests the stripping of attachment that forces a being toward dharma-vision.