Shloka 806

Vānaprastha-dharma and Tapas: Śiva–Umā Saṃvāda

Forest-Stage Discipline and Austerity

Devanagari script

तमोरूपं न तस्यास्ति दीपकं य: प्रयच्छति । वर्षा-ऋतुमें दीपदान करनेसे मनुष्य चन्द्रमाके समान शोभा पाता है। जो दीपदान करता है, उसके लिये नरकका अन्धकार है ही नहीं

Transliteration

tamorūpaṃ na tasyāsti dīpakaṃ yaḥ prayacchati |

Translation

ദീപം ദാനം ചെയ്യുന്നവന് നരകത്തിന്റെ അന്ധകാരരൂപമായ തമസ്സില്ല. വർഷാകാലത്ത് ദീപദാനം ചെയ്താൽ മനുഷ്യൻ ചന്ദ്രനെപ്പോലെ ശോഭ നേടുന്നു.

Word by Word

• तमः: darkness
• तमः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: तमस्
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• रूपम्: form; nature
• रूपम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: रूप
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• न: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न

• तस्य: of him
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Genitive, Singular

• अस्ति: is; exists
• Type: Verb
• Root: अस्
• Form: Present, Third, Singular, Parasmaipada

• दीपकम्: a lamp
• दीपकम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: दीपक
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• यः: who
• यः: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: यद्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• प्रयच्छति: gives; bestows
• Type: Verb
• Root: प्र + यम्
• Form: Present, Third, Singular, Parasmaipada

Speaker

शक्र उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Śakra (Indra)
• dīpaka (lamp)
• naraka (hell, implied by the Hindi gloss)
• varṣā-ṛtu (rainy season, from the Hindi gloss)
• candra (moon, from the Hindi gloss)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Giving a lamp (dīpadāna) is praised as a dharmic act that symbolically and karmically dispels darkness; the donor gains radiance and is protected from the ‘darkness’ associated with hellish suffering.

What is happening in the narrative?

Śakra (Indra) is speaking in a didactic context, commending the merit of charitable giving—specifically the gifting of a lamp—by stating that such a giver does not encounter darkness (understood as the darkness of naraka), and is likened to the moon in splendor.