Shloka 22

मान्धातृ-जन्म-चरितम्

The Birth and Career Account of Māndhātṛ

Devanagari script

अनेन विधिना राजन्‌ मयैतदुपपादितम्‌ । अब्भक्षणं त्वया राजन्‌ न युक्त कृतमद्य वै,“राजन! उक्त विधिसे इस जलको मैंने ऐसा शक्तिसम्पन्न कर दिया था कि इसको पीनेसे एक महाबली, महापराक्रमी और तपोबल सम्पन्न पुत्र उत्पन्न हो जो अपने बल- पराक्रमसे देवराज इन्द्रको भी यमलोक पहुँचा सके। उसी जलको तुमने आज पी लिया, यह अच्छा नहीं किया

Transliteration

lomaśa uvāca | anena vidhinā rājan mayaitad upapāditam | abbhakṣaṇaṁ tvayā rājan na yuktaṁ kṛtam adya vai |

Translation

രാജാവേ! ഈ വിധിപ്രകാരം തന്നെയാണ് ഞാൻ ഇതിനെ സിദ്ധമാക്കിയതു; എന്നാൽ നീ ഇന്ന് അത് പാനം ചെയ്തു—ഇത് യുക്തമായ കർമ്മമല്ല.

Word by Word

• {'anena vidhinā': 'by this method/rite

• according to this prescribed procedure', 'rājan': 'O king (vocative address)', 'mayā': 'by me', 'etat': 'this (thing), i.e., this water/arrangement', 'upapāditam': 'prepared, arranged, duly effected

• made efficacious', 'abbhakṣaṇam': 'drinking/consumption of water (lit. ‘water-eating’)', 'tvayā': 'by you', 'na yuktam': 'not proper, not fitting, not in accordance with propriety/dharma', 'kṛtam': 'done', 'adya': 'today', 'vai': 'indeed, certainly (emphatic particle)'}

Speaker

लोमश उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Lomaśa
• rājan (the king addressed)
• water (empowered/ritually prepared)
• Indra
• Yama (Yamaloka)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Ritual power and intended outcomes depend on correct procedure and ethical restraint; acting impulsively—especially by a king—can negate a carefully prepared dharmic purpose.

What is happening in the narrative?

Lomaśa rebukes the king for drinking a ritually empowered water that had been prepared for a specific purpose—producing an extraordinarily powerful, tapas-endowed son—warning that the king’s act was improper and undermines that intended result.