Matsya Purana — The Strategy to Defeat Tāraka: Pārvatī’s Birth, Shloka 170

Devanagari script

सेयम् उत्तानहस्तेति त्वयोक्ता मुनिपुंगव उत्तानहस्तता प्रोक्ता याचतामेव नित्यदा //

Transliteration

seyam uttānahasteti tvayoktā munipuṃgava uttānahastatā proktā yācatāmeva nityadā //

Translation

Ceci est bien ce que tu as nommé « la main tendue », ô le meilleur des sages. Il est déclaré que l’état d’avoir la main tendue appartient—toujours et seulement—à ceux qui mendient.

Word by Word

• seyam: this (indeed)

• uttāna-hastā iti: ‘outstretched-hand’ thus

• tvayā uktā: spoken/said by you

• muni-puṅgava: O foremost among sages

• uttāna-hastatā: the state/condition of having the hand held out

• proktā: is declared/defined

• yācatām: of those who ask/beg

• eva: only/indeed

• nityadā: always/at all times.

Speaker

• Vaivasvata Manu (addressing a sage/interlocutor; dialogic definition/clarification)

Entities Mentioned

• Vaivasvata Manu

Tags

• Vastuvidya
• Terminology
• Ritual-gesture
• Ethics
• Social-conduct

FAQs

What does this verse reveal about the creation or dissolution (Pralaya)?

This verse is not about Pralaya; it defines a technical expression (“outstretched hand”) as a mark of begging, reflecting social-ethical terminology rather than cosmology.

How does this verse relate to the duties of a King or Householder?

By equating “outstretched-hand-ness” with begging, it reinforces norms of self-reliance and proper conduct—useful for kings and householders in regulating charity, livelihood, and social order.

What is the architectural or ritual significance mentioned here?

The verse functions like a glossary-style definition of a gesture/term (uttāna-hasta), which can appear in ritual or procedural descriptions; it clarifies that the ‘hand held out’ denotes supplication/begging.