Shloka 39
Sāvitrī–Satyavān Vivāha: Kanyāpradāna and Āśrama-Śīla (सावित्री-सत्यवान्विवाहः)
कथं हि भिन्नकरटं पद्मिनं वनगोचरम् । उपस्थाय महानागं करेणु: सूकरं स्पृशेत्,“गण्डस्थलसे मदकी धारा बहानेवाले पद्ममाला-मण्डित वनवासी गजराजकी सेवामें उपस्थित होकर कोई हथिनी किसी शूकरको कैसे छू सकती है?
kathaṁ hi bhinnakaraṭaṁ padminaṁ vanagocaram | upasthāya mahānāgaṁ kareṇūḥ sūkaraṁ spṛśet ||
Dijo Mārkaṇḍeya: «¿Cómo podría una elefanta, tras acercarse para servir a un gran elefante señorial —errante del bosque, con las sienes manando el licor del celo y adornado con una guirnalda de lotos—, tocar a un jabalí?»
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
That one should maintain fitting conduct and associations: a noble person (symbolized by the she-elephant devoted to a majestic elephant) should not stoop to contact with what is base or degrading (symbolized by the boar). The image teaches discernment in companionship and the preservation of dignity and dharma.
Mārkaṇḍeya speaks in a proverbial, rhetorical manner, presenting a striking nature-image: a rutting, lotus-adorned forest elephant attended by a she-elephant. He asks how such a she-elephant could touch a boar, implying that such a mismatch is unthinkable—thereby commenting on an analogous human situation of improper attachment or alliance.