Shloka 16
दमयन्तीवाक्य-प्रेषणम्
Damayantī’s Message and the Dispatch of Brahmin Envoys
सातुतं पुरुषं नारी कृच्छेडप्पनुगता वने,“वह नारी इतनी पतिव्रता थी कि संकटकालमें भी उस पुरुषके पीछे-पीछे वनमें चली गयी; किंतु उस अल्प पुण्यवाले पुरुषने उसे वनमें ही त्याग दिया। अब तो यदि वह जीवित होगी तो बड़े कष्टसे उसके दिन बीतते होंगे। वह स्त्री अकेली थी। उसे मार्गका ज्ञान नहीं था। जिस संकटमें वह पड़ी थी, उसके योग्य वह कदापि नहीं थी
sā tu taṃ puruṣaṃ nārī kṛcchre 'py anugatā vane | sā nārī pativratā satī saṃkaṭakāle 'pi tasyaiva paścād vane yayau | kintu alpapuṇyena tena puruṣeṇa sā vane tyaktā | idānīṃ yadi jīvatī syāt, mahāduḥkhena tasyāḥ dināḥ yānti sma | sā strī ekākī āsīt | mārgaṃ na jānāti sma | yasmīn saṃkaṭe sā patitā, tasya yogyā sā kadācana na āsīt ||
Bṛhadaśva said: That woman, though in dire distress, followed the man into the forest. She was so devoted to her husband that even in a time of calamity she went after him into the wilderness; yet that man, of scant merit, abandoned her there. If she is still alive, her days must be passing in great suffering. She was alone, without knowledge of the way, and the peril into which she had fallen was never something she was fit to endure.
बृहृदश्च उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage contrasts steadfast devotion (pativratā-dharma) with the man’s moral failure: abandoning a dependent companion in crisis is portrayed as adharma and a sign of diminished merit (alpapuṇya). It invites compassion for the vulnerable and stresses responsibility toward those who rely on one’s protection.
Bṛhadaśva describes a devoted woman who follows a man into the forest even during hardship, but the man abandons her there. The speaker reflects on her likely suffering—alone, without knowing the way, trapped in a danger she was not equipped to face.