Shloka 28

Devanagari script

मधुकैटभावूचतु: अनृतं नोक्तपूर्व नौ स्वैरेष्वपि कुतोडन्यथा । सत्ये धर्मे च निरतौ विद्धयावां पुरुषोत्तम,मधु और कैटभने कहा--पुरुषोत्तम! हमलोगोंने पहले कभी स्वच्छन्द (मर्यादारहित) बर्तावमें भी झूठ नहीं कहा है, फिर और समयमें तो हम झूठ बोल ही कैसे सकते हैं? आप हम दोनोंको सत्य और धर्ममें अनुरक्त मानिये

Transliteration

madhukaiṭabhāv ūcatuḥ—anṛtaṁ no ktapūrvaṁ nau svaireṣv api kuto ’nyathā | satye dharme ca niratau viddhy āvāṁ puruṣottama ||

Translation

Madhu dan Kaiṭabha berkata: “Wahai Puruṣottama! Kami tak pernah mengucapkan dusta sebelumnya—bahkan ketika bertindak tanpa kendali; bagaimana mungkin pada waktu lain kami berkata lain? Ketahuilah kami sebagai mereka yang teguh pada kebenaran dan dharma.”

Word by Word

• {'madhukaiṭabhau': 'Madhu and Kaiṭabha (a pair of beings speaking together)', 'ūcatuḥ': 'they two said (dual perfect/preterite of √vac)', 'anṛtam': 'falsehood, untruth', 'naḥ': 'by us / for us (1st person plural pronoun, here in sense of ‘by us’)', 'uktapūrvam': 'previously spoken before

• said earlier', 'nau': 'of us two / to us two (dual pronoun)', 'svairēṣu api': 'even in unrestrained/at-will situations

• even in moments of license', 'kutaḥ': 'how? whence? on what grounds?', 'anyathā': 'otherwise, differently', 'satye': 'in truth

• with regard to truth', 'dharme': 'in dharma

• righteousness, moral order, duty', 'ca': 'and', 'niratau': 'engaged in, devoted to (dual of nirata)', 'viddhi': 'know (imperative of √vid)', 'āvām': 'we two (dual)', 'puruṣottama': 'O Supreme Person

Speaker

मार्कण्डेय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Madhu
• Kaiṭabha
• Puruṣottama

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse foregrounds satya (truthfulness) as a defining ethical commitment: one’s credibility in dharma is measured by consistency—if one does not lie even when unrestrained, one is even less likely to lie under ordinary circumstances.

What is happening in the narrative?

Madhu and Kaiṭabha address Puruṣottama, asserting their own moral reliability. They claim they have never spoken untruth, even in moments of license, and ask to be regarded as devoted to truth and dharma—an appeal meant to establish trust in the ongoing exchange.