Shloka 17

अहल्याशापवर्णनम्

The Account of Ahalyā’s Curse and the Deserted Hermitage near Mithilā

Devanagari script

तस्यान्तरं विदित्वा तु सहस्राक्षश्शचीपति:।।।।मुनिवेषधरोऽहल्यामिदं वचनमब्रवीत्।

Transliteration

tasyāntaraṃ viditvā tu sahasrākṣaḥ śacīpatiḥ || muniveṣadharo 'halyām idaṃ vacanam abravīt |

Translation

သို့ရာတွင် သချီပတိ ဖြစ်သော မျက်စိတစ်ထောင်ရှိ အိန္ဒြာသည် အခွင့်အလမ်းကို သိမြင်ကာ မုနိ၏အသွင်ကို ဆောင်ယူပြီး အဟလျာအား ဤစကားကို မိန့်ကြားလေ၏။

Word by Word

• tasya: of him (Gautama)
• tasya: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/षष्ठी)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Puṃliṅga/Napumsaka, Genitive (6th/षष्ठी), Singular

• antaram: opportunity
• antaram: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: antara (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Napumsaka, Accusative (2nd/द्वितीया), Singular; 'interval/opportunity' object of viditvā

• viditvā: having found out
• viditvā: Kriyāviśeṣaṇa (क्रियाविशेषण)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √vid (धातु)
• Form: Absolutive/Gerund (क्त्वा), 'having known/found out'

• tu: but, then
• tu: Vākyaprakāśaka (वाक्यप्रकाशक)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tu (अव्यय)
• Form: Avyaya, adversative/emphatic particle

• sahasra-akṣaḥ: Indra (thousand-eyed)
• sahasra-akṣaḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: sahasra (प्रातिपदिक) + akṣa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Puṃliṅga, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular; bahuvrīhi epithet: 'one who has a thousand eyes' (Indra)

• śacī-patiḥ: consort of Śacī
• śacī-patiḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: śacī (प्रातिपदिक) + pati (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Puṃliṅga, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular; tatpuruṣa: 'husband of Śacī'

• muni-veṣa-dharaḥ: wearing an ascetic's disguise
• muni-veṣa-dharaḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: muni (प्रातिपदिक) + veṣa (प्रातिपदिक) + dhara (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Puṃliṅga, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular; tatpuruṣa: 'wearer of a sage's guise'

• ahalyām: Ahalyā
• ahalyām: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: ahalyā (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Strīliṅga, Accusative (2nd/द्वितीया), Singular; addressee as object of speech (उद्देश्य)

• idam: this
• idam: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: idam (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Napumsaka, Accusative (2nd/द्वितीया), Singular; qualifying vacanam

• vacanam: speech, words
• vacanam: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: vacana (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Napumsaka, Accusative (2nd/द्वितीया), Singular

• abravīt: said
• abravīt: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √brū (धातु)
• Form: Laṅ (लङ्, imperfect), Parasmaipada, Prathama-puruṣa (3rd), Eka-vacana (singular)

Context

The thousand-eyed Indra, consort of Sachi, having found an opportunity (during the absence of the ascetic), assumed the guise of the ascetic (Gautama) and said to Ahalya:

Characters & Entities

• Viśvāmitra
• Rāma
• Indra (Sahasrākṣa)
• Śacī
• Ahalyā
• Gautama

FAQs

What is the core ethical principle (Dharma) in this verse?

The verse warns against adharma through deception: taking a holy disguise to pursue desire violates satya and corrupts sacred trust.

What is the narrative situation?

Indra exploits Gautama’s absence, disguises himself as an ascetic, and approaches Ahalyā to speak to her.

Which character virtue is emphasized?

By contrast (through violation), the virtue emphasized is truthfulness: the harm begins with false appearance and misuse of religious symbols.