Shloka 246
Uttanka’s Guru-Śuśrūṣā and the Commission to Retrieve the Maṇikuṇḍalas (उत्तङ्क-गुरुशुश्रूषा तथा मणिकुण्डल-आदेशः)
सलिल विप्रमुख्येभ्यो मातड्स्रोतसा विभो | तदनन्तर शंख
salila-vipramukhye-bhyo mātaṅga-srotasā vibho | tadanantaraṁ śaṅkha-cakra-gadā-dhāraṇo bhagavān śrīkṛṣṇas tasmin mārge prakaṭī-bhūya ājagāma | taṁ dṛṣṭvā mahāmatiḥ uttaṅka uvāca— “puruṣottama! prabho! śreṣṭha-brāhmaṇebhyaḥ caṇḍāla-spṛṣṭaṁ tathā apavitraṁ jalaṁ dātuṁ na yuktam” iti ||
マータンガに結びつく流れ（不浄と見なされる水源）からの水が、最上の婆羅門たちに差し出された。その直後、法螺貝・円盤・棍棒を携えた主、聖クリシュナが、同じ道筋に姿を現して進み来た。これを見た大智のウッタンカは言った。「プルショーत्तマよ、主よ！高徳の婆羅門たちに、チャンダーラの手が触れたあのような不浄の水を与えるのは、ふさわしくありません。」
उत्तडुक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage foregrounds a dharmic-ethical tension between ritual notions of purity and the presence of the divine: Uttanka insists that offerings to brāhmaṇas must be uncontaminated, while Kṛṣṇa’s immediate manifestation frames the moment as a test or clarification of values—how one judges purity, propriety, and reverence in practice.
Water associated with a socially stigmatized source (mātaṅga-srotas) is involved in an offering context for eminent brāhmaṇas. Right after this, Kṛṣṇa appears bearing His divine weapons. Uttanka, seeing Him, objects that giving caṇḍāla-touched water to brāhmaṇas is improper, directly addressing Kṛṣṇa with a moral protest.