Shloka 40
Adhyaya 18 — Arjuna Declines the Throne; Garga Directs Him to Dattatreya; The Gods Defeat the Daityas through Dattatreya’s Vision and the Movement of Lakshmi
नीलोत्पलाभनयनां पीनश्रोणिपयोधराम् ।
गदन्तीं मधुरां भाषां सर्वैर्योषिद्गुणैर्युताम् ॥
nīlotpalābhanayanāṃ pīnaśroṇipayodharām | gadantīṃ madhurāṃ bhāṣāṃ sarvair yoṣidguṇair yutām ||
Elle avait des yeux semblables aux lotus bleus, des hanches et des seins pleins, des paroles suaves, et possédait toutes les vertus de la féminité.
FAQs
The verse illustrates how sensory description can function as a narrative device to test character. The moral pressure is on the observer: whether one responds with reverence and restraint or with appropriation and violence.
Again, it is didactic narrative rather than cosmological enumeration—used to convey dharma through the psychology of temptation.
Lotus-eyes and sweet speech symbolize the attractive veneer of māyā when apprehended by desire. The text hints that ‘virtues’ perceived externally can be misread as license for possession.