Shloka 22

Ulūka’s Provocation and Keśava’s Counter-Message (उलूकदूत्ये केशवप्रत्युत्तरम्)

Devanagari script

बहुमित्रा वयं सर्वे तेषां नो मातुलो हायम्‌ । रक्षां करोतु सततं वृद्धबालस्य सर्वश:,“हम सब लोगोंके बहुत-से मित्र हैं, अतः अब यह बिलाव भी हमारा मामा होकर रहे और हमारे यहाँ जो वृद्ध तथा बालक हैं, उन सबकी सदा रक्षा करता रहे

Transliteration

bahumitrā vayaṁ sarve teṣāṁ no mātulo hāyam | rakṣāṁ karotu satataṁ vṛddhabālasya sarvaśaḥ ||

Translation

ನಾವು ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ಬಹುಮಿತ್ರರು; ಆದ್ದರಿಂದ ಈ ಬೆಕ್ಕು ಈಗ ನಮ್ಮ ಮಾವನಾಗಿರಲಿ. ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆಯ ವೃದ್ಧರು ಮತ್ತು ಮಕ್ಕಳನ್ನು ಅದು ಸದಾ ಎಲ್ಲ ರೀತಿಯಿಂದಲೂ ರಕ್ಷಿಸಲಿ.

Word by Word

बहु-मित्राःhaving many friends

वयम्we

सर्वेall

तेषाम्of them

नःour/of us

मातुलःmaternal uncle

हindeed/just (emphatic particle)

अयम्this (one)

रक्षाम्protection

करोतुlet (him) do / may (he) make

सततम्always/constantly

वृद्ध-बालस्यof the old-and-the-young (i.e., of old people and children)

सर्वशःin every way / entirely

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

cat (bilāva/biḍāla implied)

the aged

children

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames protection of the vulnerable—elders and children—as a primary duty, expressed through the idiom of kinship: calling someone “mātula” assigns them a trusted, protective role and creates moral obligation.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports a statement in which the speakers, claiming many friendly ties, symbolically adopt a cat as a ‘maternal uncle’ and charge him with the continual safeguarding of the household’s old and young—an ironic or strategic use of familial language to secure protection.