Shloka 20
(पृच्छसे मां कस्त्वमसि रूपवीर्यबलान्वित: । ब्रूह्मत्रागमनं किं वा श्रोतुमिच्छामि तत्त्वत: ।। रूप, वीर्य और बलसे सम्पन्न तुम कौन हो, जो मेरा परिचय पूछते हो। यहाँ तुम्हारे आगमनका क्या कारण है, बताओ। मैं यह सब ठीक-ठीक सुनना चाहती हूँ। ययातिरुवाच ययातिनईहिषोःहं तु श्रान्तोडद्य मृगलिप्सया । कूपे तृणावृते भद्ठे दृष्टवानस्मि त्वामिह ।।) ययातिने कहा--भद्रे! मैं राजा नहुषका पुत्र ययाति हूँ। एक हिंसक पशुको मारनेकी इच्छासे इधर आ निकला। थका-माँदा प्यास बुझानेके लिये यहाँ आया और तिनकोंसे ढके हुए इस कूपमें गिरी हुई तुमपर मेरी दृष्टि पड़ गयी। एष मे दक्षिणो राजन् पाणिस्ताम्रनखाड्गुलि:
Vaiśampāyana uvāca: pṛcchase māṃ kastvam asi rūpa-vīrya-balānvitaḥ | brūhi mat-āgamanam kiṃ vā śrotum icchāmi tattvataḥ || Yayātir uvāca: yayātir nahuṣoḥ putro 'haṃ tu śrānto 'dya mṛga-lipsayā | kūpe tṛṇāvṛte bhadre dṛṣṭavān asmi tvām iha || eṣa me dakṣiṇo rājan pāṇis tāmra-nakhāṅguliḥ |
Vaiśampāyana said: “You ask me who I am—who are you, endowed with beauty, prowess, and strength? Tell me why you have come here; I wish to hear the truth exactly.” Yayāti said: “O noble lady, I am Yayāti, son of King Nahuṣa. Today I wandered here seeking game; weary and thirsty, I came to this place, and in this well covered with grass I caught sight of you.” (He then begins to say:) “O king, this is my right hand, with coppery nails and fingers …”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage foregrounds truthful self-disclosure and inquiry into intention: identity and purpose are to be stated plainly (tattvataḥ), setting an ethical tone for a potentially consequential encounter.
A speaker asks a powerful-looking stranger to identify himself and explain his arrival. Yayāti replies that he is Nahuṣa’s son, came while hunting, and—tired and thirsty—noticed a woman fallen into a grass-covered well; he then begins to offer his right hand to help.