Shloka 23
Uttanka’s Guru-Śuśrūṣā and the Commission to Retrieve the Maṇikuṇḍalas (उत्तङ्क-गुरुशुश्रूषा तथा मणिकुण्डल-आदेशः)
अथ तेनैव मार्गेण शड्खचक्रगदाधर:
atha tenaiva mārgeṇa śaṅkha-cakra-gadā-dharaḥ salila-vipramukhyebhyo mātṛ-srotasā vibho | tad-anantaraṃ śaṅkhaṃ cakraṃ ca gadāṃ dhārayamāṇo bhagavān śrī-kṛṣṇas tenaiva mārgeṇa prakaṭī-bhūya ājagāma | taṃ dṛṣṭvā mahā-matir uttaṅka uvāca— “puruṣottama prabho! bhavataḥ śreṣṭha-brāhmaṇebhyaś caṇḍāla-spṛṣṭaṃ tathā apavitraṃ jalaṃ dātuṃ na yuktam” iti |
त्यानंतर त्याच मार्गाने शंख, चक्र आणि गदा धारण करणारे भगवान प्रकट झाले—मातृस्रोतस नावाच्या प्रवाहाजवळ, जिथे श्रेष्ठ ब्राह्मण उपस्थित होते. त्यांना पाहून महामती उत्तंक म्हणाला—“पुरुषोत्तम! प्रभो! श्रेष्ठ ब्राह्मणांना चांडाल-स्पर्शित असे अपवित्र पाणी देणे आपल्याला योग्य नाही.”
उत्तडुक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds a dharmic concern about ritual purity: Uttanka challenges the propriety of offering water deemed impure (touched by a Caṇḍāla) to eminent Brahmins, even when the giver is the Lord himself. It sets up a reflection on how social-ritual norms interact with divine purpose and ethical discernment.
Kṛṣṇa appears on the same route, identifiable by his conch, discus, and mace, near the stream called Mātṛ-srotas where leading Brahmins are present. Uttanka, seeing him, objects that it is improper to give those Brahmins water considered impure because it has been touched by a Caṇḍāla.