Garuda Purana — Preta Kalpa, Shloka 64
Babhruvāhana Meets a Preta: Vṛṣotsarga, Heirless Death, and the Signs of Preta-Affliction
मामुद्दिश्य नृपे ऽप्यत्राधिकारो ऽत्यनुकम्पया / राजपुत्रो हतः कश्चिन्मयैवाप्तस्ततो मया
māmuddiśya nṛpe 'pyatrādhikāro 'tyanukampayā / rājaputro hataḥ kaścinmayaivāptastato mayā
အို မင်းကြီး၊ ဤနေရာ၌လည်း သင်ကို ရည်ညွှန်း၍ အလွန်ကြင်နာသနားခြင်းကြောင့် ငါ့အား အာဏာကို ပေးအပ်ခဲ့သည်။ မင်းသားတစ်ပါး သတ်ခံရပြီး၊ ထိုသူကို ငါတစ်ယောက်တည်းကပင် လက်ခံယူ၍ ငါ့အုပ်ချုပ်မှုအောက်သို့ ခေါ်ဆောင်လာခဲ့သဖြင့် ဤကိစ္စသည် ငါကြောင့် ဖြစ်လာသည်။
Lord Vishnu (narrating to Garuda; the verse addresses a king within the discourse)
Concept: Adhikāra (entrusted authority) exercised with anukampā (compassion) in matters involving death and protection of dependents.
Vedantic Theme: Kartṛtva-bhāva (sense of agency) within dharma; compassion as sattvic motive that purifies action.
Application: When entrusted with power, act with compassion and accountability, especially in crises involving loss of life or vulnerable persons.
Primary Rasa: karuna
Secondary Rasa: bhayanaka
Related Themes: Garuda Purana Pretakalpa: narratives where a king is instructed to perform rites/dāna for release of a departed soul (contextual parallel)
FAQs
This verse highlights that post-death jurisdiction is not arbitrary; authority is granted purposefully—here, specifically “out of great compassion,” implying a morally ordered administration of outcomes.
By stating that a slain prince was “obtained/brought” under a particular authority, the verse suggests the soul’s transition is overseen and directed by assigned powers, reflecting karmic and compassionate governance.
Act with responsibility and compassion: the verse frames power and decision-making as legitimate only when guided by mercy and ethical intent—an approach applicable to leadership and daily conduct.