Adhyaya 137
The chapter begins with the sages asking how it came to pass that the ascetic Māṇḍavya, renowned for severe austerities, was set upon a śūlā (stake/impalement). Sūta relates that while on pilgrimage Māṇḍavya arrived in this sacred region with deep faith and approached a great purifying tīrtha connected with the Viśvāmitra tradition. There he performed pitṛ-tarpaṇa (libations to the ancestors) and observed a sun-oriented vow, reciting a hymn beloved of Bhāskara, marked by the refrain “vibhrāṭ.” At that time a thief stole a bundle (loptra) and, pursued by people, noticed the silent sage. The thief dropped the bundle near him and hid in a cave. When the pursuers arrived and saw the bundle before the sage, they questioned him about the thief’s escape route. Though Māṇḍavya knew where the thief was hiding, he remained faithful to his mauna-vrata (vow of silence) and did not speak. Acting without reflection, the pursuers concluded he was the criminal in disguise and swiftly impaled him in a wooded place. The narration frames this harsh end as the ripening of prior karma (pūrvakarma-vipāka) despite the sage’s present blamelessness, and it sets forth reflection on ethical judgment, the discipline of vows, and the subtle complexity of causality.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ऋषय ऊचुः । केनासौ मुनिशार्दूलो मांडव्यः सुमहातपाः । शूलायां स्थापितः केन कारणेन च नो वद
The sages said: “By whom was that Māṇḍavya—tiger among sages, of exceedingly great austerities—set upon the stake? Tell us also for what reason this happened.”
Verse 2
सूत उवाच । स मांडव्यो मुनिः पूर्वं तीर्थयात्रां समाचरन् । अस्मिन्क्षेत्रे समायातः श्रद्धया परया युतः
Sūta said: Formerly, the sage Māṇḍavya, engaged in pilgrimage to sacred fords, arrived at this holy region, endowed with supreme faith.
Verse 3
विश्वामित्रीयमासाद्य सत्तीर्थं पावनं महत् । पितॄणां तर्पणं चक्रे भास्करं प्रति स व्रती
Having reached Viśvāmitrī—the true and greatly purifying sacred ford—he, the disciplined observer of vows, performed the libations for the ancestors, facing the Sun.
Verse 4
जपन्विभ्राडिति श्रेष्ठं सूक्तं भास्करवल्लभम् । एतस्मिन्नंतरे चौरो लोप्त्रमादाय कस्यचित्
While he was chanting the excellent hymn beginning with ‘Vibhrāṭ’, beloved of the Sun, in the meantime a thief seized someone’s water-pot (loptra).
Verse 5
कोपि तत्र समायातः पृष्ठे लग्नैर्जनैर्द्विजाः । ततश्चौरोऽपि तं दृष्ट्वा मौनस्थं मुनिसत्तमम्
Then some people arrived there, close upon his trail, O brāhmaṇas. And the thief too, seeing the best of sages absorbed in silence,
Verse 6
लोप्त्रं मुक्त्वा तदग्रेऽथ प्रविवेश गुहांतरे । एतस्मिन्नंतरे प्राप्तास्ते जना लोप्त्रहेतवे
Having dropped the water-pot in front of him, the thief then entered a cave. Meanwhile those people arrived there to recover the water-pot.
Verse 7
दृष्ट्वा लोप्त्रं तदग्रस्थं तमूचुर्मुनिपुंगवम् । मार्गेणानेन चायातो लोप्त्रहस्तो मलिम्लुचः । ब्रूहि शीघ्रं महाभाग केन मार्गेण निर्गतः
Seeing the water-pot placed before him, they said to that bull among sages: “Along this path a wicked robber came, carrying the water-pot in his hand. Tell us quickly, O fortunate one—by which path did he go out?”
Verse 8
स च जानन्नपि प्राज्ञो गुहासंस्थं मलिम्लुचम् । न किंचिदपि चोवाच मौनव्रत परायणः
Though wise and knowing that the robber was hidden in the cave, he said nothing at all, being wholly devoted to his vow of silence.
Verse 9
असकृत्प्रोच्यमानोऽपि परचिंतासमन्वितः । यदा प्रोवाच नो किंचित्स रक्षंश्चौरजीवितम्
Though questioned again and again, he remained intent on another’s welfare; and since he spoke nothing, he thereby protected the robber’s life.
Verse 10
ततस्तैर्मंत्रितं सर्वैरेष नूनं मलिम्लुचः । संप्राप्तः पृष्ठतोऽस्माभिर्मुनिरूपो बभूव ह
Then they all conferred together: “Surely this one is a robber. We followed him from behind, and he has assumed the guise of a sage.”
Verse 11
अविचार्य ततः सर्वैराभीरैस्तैर्दुरात्मभिः । शूलीमारोपितः सद्यो नीत्वा किंचिद्वनांतरम्
Then, without due inquiry, those wicked Ābhīras at once took him to a spot in the forest and impaled him upon a stake.
Verse 12
एवं प्राप्ता तदा शूली मुनिना तेन दारुणा । पूर्वकर्मविपाकेन दोषहीनेन धीमता
Thus, at that time, through the ripening of deeds done in the past, that formidable sage—wise and free from fault—approached the Trident-bearing Lord, Śiva.