Shloka 16
Adhyaya 71 — The King’s Remorse and the Sage’s Counsel on the Necessity of a Wife
राजोवाच सा नीता केन पातालमास्ते सदूषिता कथम् । अत्यद्भुतमिदं ब्रह्मन् ! यथावद्वक्तुमर्हसि ॥
rājovāca sā nītā kena pātālam āste sadūṣitā katham / aty-adbhutam idaṃ brahman yathāvad vaktum arhasi
王は言った。「誰によって連れ去られ、彼女はパーターラ（Pātāla）に住むのですか。いかにして彼女は汚れを受けたのですか。これはまことに驚異です、婆羅門よ——正しく説き明かしてください。」
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FAQs
Wonder (adbhuta) becomes a doorway to inquiry: the king seeks not gossip but causal clarity and moral assessment (agency and ‘pollution’), a prerequisite for right restitution.
Narrative progression toward an explanatory sub-story; may segue into loka/pātāla description or a demon/being’s action, but here it remains within ethical dialogue rather than a core pañcalakṣaṇa catalog.
The question ‘who took her’ mirrors the inner search for the force that drags the mind downward—desire, fear, pride, or delusion; ‘defilement’ points to how contact with such forces stains discernment.