योष्ष्टमासांस्तु शुचिना किरणेनोक्षितं पय: । प्रत्यादत्ते पुनः काले किमाश्चर्यमत: परम्
yoṣṭamāsāṁstu śucinā kiraṇenokṣitaṁ payaḥ | pratyādatte punaḥ kāle kimāścaryamataḥ param ||
ナーガは言った。「乳は(太陽の)清らかな光に触れられ、八か月のあいだに熟し、やがて時至れば再び与え返される。これ以上の驚異がどこにあろうか。」
नाग उवाच
The verse points to the marvel of natural processes governed by orderly time (kāla): what is taken up and transformed by the sun’s rays is returned in season. It invites humility and reflection—nature itself demonstrates a larger, dependable order beyond human control.
A Nāga speaker offers an example from the natural world—milk being ‘touched’ by pure rays for months and then ‘returned’ in due time—as a rhetorical proof of something astonishing, using the image to strengthen a philosophical point about the world’s wondrous, ordered functioning.