Shloka 17
Bhāgīrathī-tīra-śauca, Kurukṣetra-gamana, and Śatayūpa-āśrama-dīkṣā (गङ्गातीरशौच–कुरुक्षेत्रगमन–शतयूपाश्रमदीक्षा)
वायुभक्षो निराहार: कृशो धमनिसन्ततः । कदाचिद् दृश्यते विप्रै: शून्येडस्मिन् कानने क्वचित्
vāyubhakṣo nirāhāraḥ kṛśo dhamanisantataḥ | kadācid dṛśyate vipraiḥ śūnye 'smin kānane kvacit ||
Vaiśampāyana dit : Ne se nourrissant que d’air et jeûnant par ailleurs, il est devenu d’une maigreur extrême ; le réseau de veines et de tendons qui parcourt son corps se détache nettement. Dans cette forêt déserte, les brahmanes l’aperçoivent parfois çà et là — mais rarement.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the austerity of renunciation: extreme fasting and subsisting on air lead to bodily frailty, underscoring the ethical ideal of detachment from comfort and the seriousness of tapas undertaken in the forest stage of life.
Vaiśampāyana describes an ascetic figure in the deserted forest who practices continuous fasting and lives on air; he has become so thin that his veins are visible, and brahmins only occasionally glimpse him wandering in that wilderness.