Shloka 14

Garuḍa’s Breach of the Amṛta-Guard and Boons with Viṣṇu; Encounter with Indra (Ādi-parva, Adhyāya 29)

Devanagari script

यत्र कूर्माग्रजं हस्ती सदा कर्षत्यवाड्मुख: । तयोर्जन्मान्तरे वैरं सम्प्रवक्ष्याम्यशेषत:

Transliteration

yatra kūrmāgrajaṃ hastī sadā karṣaty avāḍmukhaḥ | tayor janmāntare vairaṃ sampravakṣyāmy aśeṣataḥ ||

Translation

ਜਿੱਥੇ ਥੱਲੇ ਵੱਲ ਮੁਖ ਕੀਤਾ ਹਾਥੀ ਸਦਾ ਕੱਛੂਏ ਦੇ ਅਗਰਜ ਨੂੰ ਘਸੀਟਦਾ ਰਹਿੰਦਾ ਹੈ। ਉਹਨਾਂ ਦੋਹਾਂ ਦਾ ਪਿਛਲੇ ਜਨਮ ਦਾ ਵੈਰ ਮੈਂ ਹੁਣ ਪੂਰੀ ਤਰ੍ਹਾਂ ਵਰਣਨ ਕਰਾਂਗਾ।

Word by Word

यत्रwhere

कूर्माग्रजम्the elder brother of the tortoise

हस्तीthe elephant

सदाalways

कर्षतिdrags/pulls

अवाड्मुखःhaving a downward-turned face/mouth

तयोःof those two

जन्मान्तरेin another birth

वैरम्enmity

सम्प्रवक्ष्यामिI shall relate/tell fully

अशेषतःcompletely, without remainder

Speaker

कश्यप उवाच

Characters & Entities

क

कश्यप (Kaśyapa)

ह

हस्ती (elephant)

क

कूर्म (tortoise)

क

कूर्माग्रज (elder brother of the tortoise)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Hostility and suffering are often portrayed as consequences of prior actions; the verse frames present conflict as rooted in past-life enmity, emphasizing karmic continuity and moral causation.

What is happening in the narrative?

Kaśyapa points to a scene where an elephant keeps dragging the tortoise’s elder brother and announces that he will now recount the complete backstory—how these two became enemies in a previous birth.