Adhyaya 16 — The Son’s Counsel on Renunciation and the Anasuya–Mandavya Episode: The Suspension of Sunrise and the Power of Pativrata
या सा वेश्या मया दृष्टा राजमार्गे गृहोषिता । तां मां प्रापय धर्मज्ञे ! सैव मे हृदि वर्तते ॥
yā sā veśyā mayā dṛṣṭā rājamārge gṛhoṣitā / tāṃ māṃ prāpaya dharmajñe ! saiva me hṛdi vartate
“ರಾಜಮಾರ್ಗದ ಬಳಿಯ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ವಾಸಿಸುವ ಆ ವೇಶ್ಯೆಯನ್ನು ನಾನು ನೋಡಿದ್ದೇನೆ— ಹೇ ಧರ್ಮಜ್ಞೆ! ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಅವಳ ಬಳಿಗೆ ಕರೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗು; ಅವಳೇ ನನ್ನ ಹೃದಯದಲ್ಲಿ ನೆಲೆಸಿದ್ದಾಳೆ.”
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A pointed irony: the husband calls the wife ‘dharmajñā’ while asking her to facilitate adharma, illustrating how desire rationalizes itself by borrowing the language of righteousness.
Ethical instruction via narrative (ākhyāna); it supports dharma discourse rather than cosmological enumeration.
The ‘royal road’ can be read symbolically as the outward, public path of the senses; the heart’s fixation shows how a single vāsanā can dominate consciousness, opposing yogic freedom.