Shloka 27

Aṣṭāvakra–Bandi Vāda at Janaka’s Assembly

Numerical Cosmology and Restitution

Devanagari script

अद्टावक्र उवाच मा स्म ते ते गृहे राजज्छात्रवाणामपि ध्रुवम्‌ । वातसारथिरागन्ता गर्भ सुषुवतुश्चव॒ तम्‌,अष्टावक्र बोले--राजन्‌! वे दोनों तुम्हारे शत्रुओंके घरपर भी कभी न गिरें। वायु जिसका सारथि है वह मेघरूप देव ही इन दोनोंके गर्भको धारण करनेवाला है और ये दोनों उस मेघरूप गर्भको उत्पन्न करनेवाले हैं-

Transliteration

aṣṭāvakra uvāca | mā sma te te gṛhe rājan chātravāṇām api dhruvam | vātasārathir āgantā megharūpo deva eva etayoḥ garbhaṃ dhārayitā | etau ca tasya megharūpasya garbhasya janayitārau ||

Translation

अष्टावक्र म्हणाला—राजन्! त्या दोघी कधीही पडू नयेत—तुमच्या शत्रूंच्या घरावरसुद्धा नाही. वायू ज्याचा सारथी आहे असा, मेघ-रूप देवच त्या दोघींचा गर्भ धारण करतो; आणि त्या दोघी त्या मेघ-रूप गर्भालाच उत्पन्न करतात.

Word by Word

• {'aṣṭāvakra uvāca': 'Aṣṭāvakra said', 'mā sma': 'may it not be

• a strong prohibition/blessing in the negative', 'te': 'your', 'gṛhe': 'upon/into the house

• at the home', 'rājan': 'O king', 'chātravāṇām api': 'even of enemies (lit. of hostile/foe-people)

• contextual sense: adversaries', 'dhruvam': 'certainly, assuredly', 'vāta-sārathiḥ': 'one whose charioteer is the wind

• wind-driven', 'āgantā': 'the one who comes/arrives', 'megha-rūpaḥ': 'cloud-formed

• in the form of a cloud', 'devaḥ': 'a god

• the divine being', 'garbham': 'womb

• that which is borne/contained', 'dhārayitā': 'bearer, supporter, holder', 'janayitārau': 'the two begetters/causers of birth'}

Speaker

अद्टावक्र उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Aṣṭāvakra
• King (rājan)
• Enemies (chātravāṇaḥ, contextual)
• Wind (vāta)
• Cloud (megha)
• Deva (a divine being)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames speech as ethically charged: even when speaking of harm, the sage redirects it into a protective benediction—wishing that destructive forces not fall on anyone’s home, not even an enemy’s. It also gestures to a broader dharmic vision in which natural powers operate in mutual dependence rather than in simple hostility.

What is happening in the narrative?

Aṣṭāvakra addresses the king and utters a protective statement. He uses a striking natural metaphor—wind-driven, cloud-formed divinity and the imagery of bearing and begetting—to describe a cyclical relationship in nature, while simultaneously expressing a wish that calamity should not strike households.