Shloka 266

Aśmagīta: Janaka’s Inquiry on Loss, Kāla, and the Limits of Control (अश्मगीता)

Devanagari script

दृश्यते चाप्यतिक्रामन्ननिग्राह्मो5थवा पुनः । कोई इस सेतुका उल्लंघन करता दिखायी नहीं देता अथवा पहले भी किसीने इसका उल्लंघन किया हो, ऐसा देखनेमें नहीं आया। कोई-कोई पुरुष जो (तपस्या आदि प्रबल पुरुषार्थके द्वारा) दैवके नियन्त्रणमें रहनेयोग्य नहीं है, वह पूर्वोक्त सेतुका उल्लंघन करता भी दिखायी देता है

Transliteration

dṛśyate cāpyatikrāmann anigrāhyo ’thavā punaḥ |

Translation

ジャナカは言う。「ふつう、人が定められた境界（セートゥ）を越えるのは見られず、また昔の人々がそれを破ったとも、一般には見聞しない。だが時に、抑えがたい男—苦行などの強大な自己努力によって、もはや運命の支配下に置かれぬ者—が、その境界を踏み越えるのが見られることもある。」

Word by Word

• {'dṛśyate': 'is seen, is observed', 'ca api': 'and also, moreover', 'atikrāman / atikrāmati': 'crossing over, transgressing, overstepping', 'setu (implied by context)': 'boundary, bridge

• a regulating limit or moral ‘embankment’ that prevents disorder', 'anigrāhyaḥ': 'not to be restrained, not controllable, not amenable to discipline', 'athavā punaḥ': 'or again

• alternatively, on the other hand', 'daiva (contextual)': 'fate, destiny, the force of what is ordained', 'puruṣārtha (contextual)': 'human effort/initiative

Speaker

जनक उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Janaka

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Moral and cosmic order (the ‘setu’) is generally stable and not easily violated; however, exceptional individuals—through intense self-effort and discipline—may transcend ordinary constraints, including what is usually attributed to fate.

What is happening in the narrative?

King Janaka is reflecting on the apparent inviolability of an established moral boundary, then qualifying it by noting rare cases where an extraordinary, unrestrainable person can be seen to cross beyond that limit.