Shloka 18
Nahūṣa’s Fall Explained: Agastya’s Account to Indra (Śalya-narrated)
एवं भ्रष्टो दुरात्मा स देवराज्यादरिंदम । दिष्ट्या वर्धामहे शक्र हतो ब्राह्मणकण्टक:
evaṁ bhraṣṭo durātmā sa devarājyād arindama | diṣṭyā vardhāmahe śakra hato brāhmaṇakaṇṭakaḥ ||
«Ainsi, cet être à l’âme mauvaise, déchu de la souveraineté des dieux, a été précipité. Par heureuse fortune, ô Śakra, nous prospérons—car le tourmenteur des brāhmaṇas a été abattu.»
अगस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse affirms a dharmic principle: those who become a ‘thorn’ to brāhmaṇas and violate sacred-social order ultimately fall from power, while the restoration of justice is seen as a cause for communal well-being and prosperity.
Agastya addresses Śakra (Indra), declaring that a wicked figure has been cast down from divine sovereignty and that it is fortunate for all that this oppressor of brāhmaṇas has been slain, implying the re-establishment of moral and cosmic order.