Shloka 7
Babhruvāhana’s Lament and Appeal for Expiation (प्रायश्चित्त-याचना)
नाहं शोचामि तनयं हतं पन्नगनन्दिनि । पतिमेव तु शोचामि यस्यातिथ्यमिदं कृतम्,“नागकुमारी! मेरा पुत्र भी मरा पड़ा है, तो भी मैं उसके लिये शोक नहीं करती। मुझे केवल पतिके लिये शोक हो रहा है, जिनका मेरे यहाँ इस तरह आतिथ्य-सत्कार किया गया”
vaiśampāyana uvāca | nāhaṃ śocāmi tanayaṃ hataṃ pannaganandini | patim eva tu śocāmi yasyātithyam idaṃ kṛtam ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O serpent-maiden, I do not grieve for my son who lies slain. I grieve only for my husband—because this has happened after he extended hospitality (to the guest).” The statement underscores the ethical weight of atithi-satkara: the deeper sorrow is not merely personal loss, but the moral and social rupture that violence has occurred in the very context of hospitality.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral gravity of atithi-dharma (hospitality): the speaker’s deeper anguish is that harm occurred in the setting of hospitality, bringing ethical blemish and social dishonor upon the husband/household, beyond the personal tragedy of a child’s death.
A woman addresses a serpent-maiden, stating that she is not primarily mourning her slain son; rather, she mourns her husband because the calamity has taken place in connection with hospitality extended to a guest—implying a grievous breach of the expected sanctity of guest-reception.