Shloka 22

Devanagari script

देवानां समयस्त्वेष वसूनां संश्रुतो मया । जात॑ जात॑ मोक्षयिष्ये जन्मतो मानुषादिति,वसु देवताओंकी यह शर्त थी और मैंने उसे पूर्ण करनेकी प्रतिज्ञा कर ली थी कि जो-जो वसु जन्म लेगा, उसे मैं जन्मते ही मनुष्य-योनिसे छुटकारा दिला दूँगी

Transliteration

devānāṁ samayas tveṣa vasūnāṁ saṁśruto mayā | jātaṁ jātaṁ mokṣayiṣye janmato mānuṣād iti ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana dit : « Tel fut le pacte des dieux au sujet des Vasus, et je l’avais entendu et accepté. J’avais fait ce vœu : “Chaque Vasu qui naîtra (en tant qu’homme), je le délivrerai, dès sa naissance, de la condition humaine.” »

Word by Word

देवानाम्of the gods

समयःagreement; condition; stipulation

तुbut; indeed

एषःthis

वसूनाम्of the Vasus

संश्रुतःpromised; vowed; agreed upon

मयाby me

जातःborn

जातःborn (repeated: each time one is born)

मोक्षयिष्येI will release; I will set free

जन्मतःfrom birth; from being born

मानुषात्from (the state of) being human; from a human (birth)

इतिthus; so (quotative)

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Devas (gods)

Vasus

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights fidelity to a pledged covenant: once a condition is accepted, one must uphold it even when it involves difficult moral consequences. It also frames ‘release’ from human birth as an act of responsibility toward beings bound by a prior divine arrangement.

What is happening in the narrative?

The speaker recalls a prior agreement involving the Vasus: they would be born in human form, and the narrator (in the quoted voice) had vowed to free each one from human existence immediately upon birth—i.e., to ensure swift deliverance from the imposed human life.