Shloka 4

अङ्गददूतवाक्यं लङ्काप्राकारभेदनं च

Angada’s Embassy and the Breach of Laṅkā’s Ramparts

Devanagari script

प्रतिभान्ति महाबाहो सत्यमेतद्‌ ब्रवीमि ते । दर्शनादेव हि मनस्तया मे5पहतं भूशम्‌

Transliteration

pratibhānti mahābāho satyam etad bravīmi te | darśanād eva hi manas tayā me 'pahataṃ bhūśam ||

Translation

ヴァイシャンパーヤナは言った。「大いなる腕をもつ者よ、これらは我が目に明らかに映る。汝に真実を告げよう。まこと、彼女を見たその瞬間から、我が心は彼女に打たれ、深く圧倒されてしまったのだ。」

Word by Word

प्रतिभान्तिappear, seem

महाबाहोO mighty-armed one

सत्यम्truth

एतत्this

ब्रवीमिI say

तेto you

दर्शनात्from (the) seeing; by the sight

एवindeed, just

हिfor, indeed

मनःmind

तयाby her / by that (woman)

मेmy

अपहतम्carried away, removed

भूयःagain, further, more

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

mahābāho (addressee, unnamed here)

tayā (a woman referenced but not named in this verse)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse foregrounds satya (truthful speech) and honest self-reporting: the speaker insists on the truth of his experience and acknowledges how mere perception (darśana) can powerfully disturb the mind, a reminder to recognize and govern inner impulses.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana, narrating the episode, addresses a heroic listener and states that upon seeing a certain woman, his mind became intensely overwhelmed; he emphasizes that he is speaking truthfully about the force of that encounter.