Shloka 30

कामीकवन-समागमः

Kāmyaka Forest Meeting: Kṛṣṇa’s Visit; Mārkaṇḍeya and Nārada Arrive

Devanagari script

हिमवांश्व सुदुर्गोड्यं यक्षराक्षससंकुल: मां समुद्वीक्षमाणास्ते प्रपतिष्यन्ति विह्लला:,'यक्षों तथा राक्षसोंसे भरा हुआ यह हिमालय अत्यन्त दुर्गम है, मेरे भाई व्याकुल होकर जब मुझे खोजेंगे, तब अवश्य कहीं खंदकमें गिर पड़ेंगे

Transliteration

himavāṁś ca sudurgodyaṁ yakṣarākṣasa-saṅkulaḥ | māṁ samudvīkṣamāṇās te prapatiṣyanti vihvalāḥ ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “This Himālaya is exceedingly hard to traverse and crowded with Yakṣas and Rākṣasas. When my brothers, distressed, search for me and look about in every direction, they will surely stumble and fall—overwhelmed—into some ravine or pit.”

Word by Word

हिमवान्Himavat, the Himalaya

चand

सुदुर्गःvery difficult (to traverse)

यक्षराक्षससंकुलःcrowded with Yakshas and Rakshasas

माम्me

समुद्वीक्षमाणाःsearching for, looking for

तेthey

प्रपतिष्यन्तिwill fall down

विह्वलाःdistressed, bewildered

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Himālaya

Yakṣas

Rākṣasas

brothers (unspecified)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the ethical weight of concern for others: in a hostile and difficult terrain, anxiety and haste can lead to harm. It implicitly cautions that even well-intentioned searching, when driven by agitation (vihvala), can produce avoidable danger—suggesting the value of steadiness and prudent action amid crisis.

What is happening in the narrative?

The speaker describes the Himālaya as extremely treacherous and inhabited by Yakṣas and Rākṣasas, and anticipates that the speaker’s brothers, frantically searching for him and scanning the surroundings, may lose their footing and fall into a ravine or pit due to distress and the harsh landscape.