Shloka 23

यक्षोपाख्यान-प्रवेशः

Entry into the Yakṣa-Lake Episode

Devanagari script

एको दोषो<स्ति नान्यो<5स्य सोडद्यप्रभूृति सत्यवान्‌ । संवत्सरेण क्षीणायुर्देहन्यासं करिष्यति,आजसे लेकर एक वर्ष पूर्ण होनेतक सत्यवान्‌की आयु पूर्ण हो जायगी और वह शरीर त्याग देगा। केवल यही दोष उसमें है, दूसरा नहीं

Transliteration

eko doṣo 'sti nānyo 'sya so 'dya prabhṛti satyavān | saṃvatsareṇa kṣīṇāyur dehanyāsaṃ kariṣyati ||

Translation

Nārada said: “There is only one flaw in him—no other at all. From today onward, within a year, Satyavān’s allotted lifespan will be exhausted, and he will lay down his body.” The statement underscores that moral excellence does not always shield one from the fixed workings of fate and time; it frames the ethical tension between virtue and mortality that the narrative is about to test.

Word by Word

एकःone (single)

दोषःfault, defect

अस्तिis, exists

नnot

अन्यःother

अस्यof him

सःhe

उद्यप्रभृतिfrom today onward

सत्यवान्Satyavān

संवत्सरेणwithin/at the end of a year (by a year)

क्षीणायुःone whose lifespan is exhausted

देहन्यासम्abandonment of the body (death)

करिष्यतिwill do, will perform

Speaker

नारद उवाच

Characters & Entities

Nārada

Satyavān

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even when a person is exemplary in character, a single unavoidable condition—here, the fixed limit of lifespan—may remain. The verse highlights the ethical and spiritual challenge of responding to foreknown mortality with steadfastness and right action rather than despair.

What is happening in the narrative?

Nārada delivers a decisive prophecy about Satyavān: he has no fault except that he is destined to die within a year from that day. This revelation sets the stakes for the ensuing events in the Savitrī–Satyavān episode.