Shloka 6

Devanagari script

सोडहं द्विजेभ्य: प्रणतो विप्राद्‌ दोषमवाप्तवान्‌ | गतिमन्यां न पश्यामि मदयन्तीसहायवान्‌

Transliteration

so 'haṃ dvijebhyaḥ praṇato viprād doṣam avāptavān | gatim anyāṃ na paśyāmi madayantī-sahāyavān ||

Translation

Saudāsa berkata: “Walau aku selalu menunduk hormat kepada para dwija, justru dari kutuk seorang brāhmaṇa sajalah noda ini menimpaku dan aku jatuh ke dalam keadaan yang nista. Di sini aku tinggal dengan Madayantī sebagai pendamping, namun aku tak melihat jalan lain—tiada upaya pembebasan—dari malapetaka ini.”

Word by Word

• {"so 'ham": 'I indeed

• I myself', 'dvijebhyaḥ': 'to the twice-born (especially brāhmaṇas)

• dative plural of dvija', 'praṇataḥ': 'bowed down, reverent, prostrated', 'viprāt': 'from a brāhmaṇa

• ablative singular of vipra', 'doṣam': 'fault, taint, blemish

• here: a curse-born affliction', 'avāptavān': 'has obtained, has incurred, has come to suffer', 'gatim': 'course, state, destiny

• here: condition/lot', 'anyām': 'another, alternative', 'na paśyāmi': 'I do not see (i.e., I find no way)', 'madayantī-sahāyavān': 'having Madayantī as helper/companion

Speaker

सौदास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Saudāsa
• Madayantī
• brāhmaṇa (vipra)
• dvija (twice-born)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even habitual reverence toward the righteous (dvijas) does not automatically cancel the moral and karmic force of a grave transgression; a brāhmaṇa’s curse is portrayed as ethically potent, and the verse highlights accountability and the search for expiation when one has fallen into doṣa (taint).

What is happening in the narrative?

King Saudāsa laments that despite his customary respect for brāhmaṇas, he has been afflicted by a brāhmaṇa’s curse and now endures a degraded condition; with Madayantī beside him, he confesses he sees no clear means of deliverance from this misfortune.