Shloka 11

Marutta’s Sacrifice and Agni’s Embassy (मरुत्त-यज्ञे दूतत्वम्)

Devanagari script

मरुत्त उवाच आश्चर्यमद्य पश्यामि रूपिणं वह्निमागतम्‌ । आसन सलिल पाद्यं गां चोपानय वै मुने

Transliteration

Marutta uvāca: āścaryam adya paśyāmi rūpiṇaṁ vahnim āgatam | āsanaṁ salilaṁ pādyaṁ gāṁ copānaya vai mune ||

Translation

മരുത്തൻ പറഞ്ഞു—മുനേ! ഇന്ന് ഞാൻ അത്ഭുതം കാണുന്നു; രൂപധാരിയായി അഗ്നിദേവൻ ഇവിടെ എത്തിയിരിക്കുന്നു. അവനുവേണ്ടി ആസനം, ജലം, പാദ്യം, അർഘ്യം, കൂടാതെ ഒരു പശുവും കൊണ്ടുവരിക.

Word by Word

• {'āścaryam': 'a marvel, a wonder', 'adya': 'today', 'paśyāmi': 'I see, I behold', 'rūpiṇam': 'having form

• embodied, corporeal', 'vahnim': 'Agni

• fire (the fire-god)', 'āgatam': 'arrived, come', 'āsanam': 'seat

• a place of honor', 'salilam': 'water (for welcoming/refreshment)', 'pādyam': 'water for washing the feet (a hospitality offering)', 'arghya (implied by arghyam)': 'a respectful offering to an honored guest (often water with auspicious items)', 'gām': 'a cow (a valued gift/auspicious offering)', 'copānaya (ca + upānaya)': 'and bring/present', 'vai': 'indeed, certainly (emphatic particle)', 'mune': 'O sage'}

Speaker

मरुत्त उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Marutta
• Agni (Vahni)
• Muni (sage)
• āsana (seat)
• salila (water)
• pādya (foot-washing water)
• arghya (honor-offering)
• gau (cow)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights atithi-dharma (the duty of honoring a guest): even a sudden or extraordinary visitor must be received with prescribed courtesies—seat, water, foot-washing water, arghya, and an auspicious gift—reflecting reverence, self-discipline, and ritual propriety.

What is happening in the narrative?

King Marutta expresses amazement at seeing Agni appear in a tangible form and immediately instructs the sage to perform formal hospitality rites and present offerings, treating the divine arrival as an honored guest.