Shloka 23
Kuru's Consecration — Kuru’s Consecration and the Sanctification of Samantapañcaka (Kurukshetra)
तं कर्षन्तं नरवरं समभ्येत्य तक्रतुः प्रोवाच राजन् किमिदं भवान् कर्तुमिहोद्यतः
taṃ karṣantaṃ naravaraṃ samabhyetya takratuḥ provāca rājan kimidaṃ bhavān kartumihodyataḥ
Approaching that foremost of men as he was ploughing, Takratu said: “O King, what is it that you are intent on doing here?”
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FAQs
Purāṇic ethics often turn on intention (saṅkalpa). The sage’s question forces articulation of motive—whether the act is dhārmic (for loka-saṅgraha, consecration, charity) or merely self-serving.
Vaṃśānucarita/Carita: an episode in which a sage catalyzes a king’s disclosure of purpose, typically leading into an origin-story of a tīrtha or a prescribed rite.
The sage represents śāstra-guided scrutiny over royal power. Ploughing (karṣaṇa) is not only agricultural but also a metaphor for ‘drawing furrows’ of order in society and sacred space; the question initiates the interpretive layer that makes the act religiously meaningful.