Shloka 41

Devanagari script

अथवा मततमेतत्ते ते5प्यन्योन्यप्रयोजका: । कार्यकारणसंदेहो भवत्यन्योन्यचोदनात्‌,अथवा यदि तुम्हारा यह मत हो कि ये दण्ड-चक्र आदि भी एक-दूसरेके प्रयोजक होते हैं; इसलिये कारण हैं ही। किंतु ऐसा माननेसे एक-दूसरेको प्रेरणा देनेवाला होनेके कारण कार्य-कारणभावके निर्णयमें संदेह हो जाता है

Transliteration

athavā matam etat te te 'py anyonya-prayojakāḥ | kārya-kāraṇa-sandeho bhavaty anyonya-codanāt ||

Translation

「あるいは、そなたの見解がこうであるなら——これら（輪など）も互いに互いを促し合うゆえ原因と数えられるのだ、と——その相互の促しを認めた瞬間、何が因で何が果かを定めることに疑いが生じる。互いが互いを促すと言うなら、因の先後を裁定すること自体が曖昧になる。」

Word by Word

अथवाor else

मतम्opinion/view

एतत्this

तेof you/your

तेthey

अपिalso/even

अन्योन्य-प्रयोजकाःmutually impelling/causing one another

कार्य-कारण-सन्देहःdoubt regarding effect-and-cause

भवतिarises/occurs

अन्योन्य-चोदनात्from mutual incitement/impulsion

Speaker

सर्प उवाच

Characters & Entities

स

सर्प (Sarpa, the serpent speaker)

द

दण्डचक्र (daṇḍa-cakra, wheel/cycle of punishment—implied in context)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse critiques a theory of mutual causation: if two factors are said to cause each other, then the distinction between cause and effect becomes indeterminate, producing epistemic doubt about causal priority and responsibility.

What is happening in the narrative?

The serpent-speaker challenges an opponent’s explanation of how instruments like punishment and related mechanisms function as causes, arguing that claiming they mutually impel one another undermines any clear decision about what truly causes what.