Shloka 17
कृत्वा चाध्ययन तेषां शिष्याणां शतमुत्तमम् | विप्रियार्थ सशिष्यस्य मातुलस्य महात्मन:
Yājñavalkya uvāca | kṛtvā cādhyayanaṃ teṣāṃ śiṣyāṇāṃ śatam uttamam | vipriyārthaṃ saśiṣyasya mātulasya mahātmanaḥ, mahārāja! | tad-anantaraṃ mayā śatam uttama-śiṣyān śatapathasya adhyayanaṃ kāritam | tataḥ śiṣya-sahitaṃ svam mahāmanasvinaṃ mātulaṃ (yaḥ pūrvaṃ māṃ tiraskṛtavān) apriyaṃ kartum kiraṇaiḥ prakāśamānasya sūryasya iva śiṣyaiḥ suśobhitaḥ san tava pituḥ mahātmanaḥ rājñaḥ janakasya yajñasya anuṣṭhānaṃ kāritavān |
ヤージュニャヴァルキヤは言った。「大王よ。私は『シャタパタ』を、最上の弟子百人に授け終えると、かつて私を侮った大心の母方の叔父を、たとえ彼が自らの弟子に囲まれていようとも、あえて不快にさせようと思った。そこで私は、弟子たちを従えて、光芒を放つ太陽のごとく輝きつつ赴き、汝の父たる高徳の王ジャナカの祭祀を執り行わせた。」
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights how spiritual authority is grounded in disciplined learning and successful transmission of Vedic knowledge, yet it also warns ethically about letting scholarship become a tool for personal rivalry or retaliation. True dharma requires mastery joined with restraint and right intention.
Yājñavalkya recounts that after training a hundred excellent disciples and having them study the Śatapatha, he went—surrounded by those disciples—to King Janaka’s sacrificial rite and had it performed. He frames this public display of learning and influence as a way to affront his maternal uncle who had previously insulted him.