Shloka 23

Devanagari script

यत्रादद: सहस्राणि अयुतानां गवां दश । अनन्तरं सहस्रेण तदा55सीद्‌ दैत्य का मति:

Transliteration

śakra uvāca | yatrādadaḥ sahasrāṇi ayutānāṃ gavāṃ daśa | anantaraṃ sahasreṇa tadā āsīd daitya kā matiḥ ||

Translation

シャクラは言った。「汝が幾度も幾度も、千の贈与を施し—その一つ一つが牛十アユタから成り—さらにまた連なる千々を重ねたとき、ダイティヤよ、その時の汝の心のありさまはいかなるものだったのか。かくも広大な祭施を行う間、汝にはどのような思いが起こったのか。」

Word by Word

• {'śakraḥ': 'Indra, the lord of the gods', 'uvāca': 'said', 'yatra': 'when/where (in the context: at the time when)', 'adadaḥ': 'you gave (2nd person, imperfect/aoristic sense)', 'sahasrāṇi': 'thousands', 'ayutānām': 'of ayutas (a large numerical unit

• traditionally ten-thousands)', 'gavām': 'of cows', 'daśa': 'ten', 'anantaram': 'immediately after

• in succession', 'sahasreṇa': 'by/with a thousand

• in thousands (instrumental indicating repeated measure)', 'tadā': 'then', 'āsīt': 'was', 'daitya': 'O Daitya

• a member of the Daitya clan (address/vocative)', 'kā': 'what?', 'matiḥ': 'mind, intention, thought, disposition'}

Speaker

शक्र उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Śakra (Indra)
• Daitya (addressed interlocutor)
• cows (go-dāna)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights that the ethical value of immense charity and sacrificial giving is inseparable from the giver’s inner intention (mati). Even when the external act is extraordinarily grand, the crucial question is what mental disposition—pride, compassion, duty, desire for fame, or detachment—motivated it.

What is happening in the narrative?

Indra (Śakra) addresses a Daitya and asks about his inner thoughts at the time he repeatedly donated vast numbers of cows in the context of sacrificial rites. The focus shifts from the scale of the gifts to the psychological and moral state behind them.