Shloka 75

Matsya Purana — Inquiry into Taraka’s Slaying and the Prelude to Guha

Devanagari script

आहारमिच्छन्भार्यां स्वां न ददर्शाश्रमे स्वके क्षुधाविष्टः स शैलस्य गहनं प्रविवेश ह //

Transliteration

āhāramicchanbhāryāṃ svāṃ na dadarśāśrame svake kṣudhāviṣṭaḥ sa śailasya gahanaṃ praviveśa ha //

Translation

Seeking food, he did not see his wife in their hermitage. Overcome by hunger, he entered the mountain’s deep wilderness.

Word by Word

• āhāram: food/sustenance

• icchan: desiring/seeking

• bhāryām: wife

• svām: his own

• na: not

• dadarśa: saw

• āśrame: in the hermitage

• svake: his own

• kṣudhā-āviṣṭaḥ: seized/afflicted by hunger

• saḥ: he

• śailasya: of the mountain

• gahanam: dense thicket/deep wilderness

• praviveśa: entered

• ha: indeed/it is said (narrative particle)

Speaker

• Sūta (narrator) relating the episode within the Matsya Purana’s discourse (likely framed to Manu in the larger dialogue)

Tags

• Ashrama
• Householder-ethics
• Hunger
• Narrative-episode
• Forest

FAQs

What does this verse reveal about the creation or dissolution (Pralaya)?

This verse does not describe pralaya or cosmology; it is a human-scale narrative moment focused on hunger, absence in the hermitage, and entering a mountain wilderness.

How does this verse relate to the duties of a King or Householder?

It highlights a realistic dharmic setting: the pressures of sustaining the household/āśrama. The search for food and concern when a spouse is not found can be read as emphasizing responsibility, vigilance, and the practical challenges that dharma must address.

What is the architectural or ritual significance mentioned here?

No explicit Vastu Shastra, temple architecture, or ritual procedure is stated; the only setting detail is the āśrama (hermitage) and the mountain wilderness, functioning as narrative geography rather than technical instruction.