Shloka 59
Duḥṣantasya Vana-praveśaḥ
King Duḥṣanta’s Entry into the Forest Hunt
मीनभावमनुप्राप्ता बभूव यमुनाचरी । श्येनपादपरि भ्रष्ट तद् वीर्यमथ वासवम्
mīna-bhāvam anuprāptā babhūva yamunā-carī | śyena-pāda-pari-bhraṣṭaṃ tad vīryam atha vāsavam |
Apsaras yang berdiam di Yamunā itu, karena kutukan, telah mencapai keadaan sebagai ikan. Pada saat itu benih milik Vāsava (Indra)—yang terlepas dari cengkeraman elang—jatuh ke dalam Yamunā.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights how outcomes in the epic arise from intertwined causes—past deeds (a curse), divine forces, and chance events—suggesting that dharmic history unfolds through complex moral and cosmic causality rather than simple individual intention.
Indra’s potent seed slips from a hawk’s talons into the Yamunā; Adrikā, an Apsaras living there in fish-form due to a curse, swallows it. After the term of pregnancy, fishermen catch and cut open the fish and find two infants—a girl and a boy.