Shloka 98
Puṣkara-Śapatha Itihāsa (Agastya–Indra Dispute at the Tīrthas) | पुष्कर-शपथ-आख्यानम्
गण्डोवाच वक्त्रैकदेशे गण्डेति धातुमेतं प्रचक्षते । तेनोन्नतेन गण्डेति विद्धि मानलसम्भवे
gaṇḍovāca vaktraikadeśe gaṇḍeti dhātum etaṁ pracakṣate | tenonnatena gaṇḍeti viddhi mānalasambhave ||
ਗੰਡਾ ਬੋਲਿਆ—ਅੱਗ ਤੋਂ ਜੰਮੀ ਕ੍ਰਿਤਿਆ! ‘ਗੰਡ’ ਧਾਤੂ ਮੁਖ ਦੇ ਇਕ ਹਿੱਸੇ—ਗੱਲ੍ਹ (ਕਪੋਲ)—ਦਾ ਬੋਧ ਕਰਾਉਂਦੀ ਹੈ। ਮੇਰਾ ਗੱਲ੍ਹ ਉਭਰਿਆ ਹੋਇਆ ਹੈ, ਇਸ ਲਈ ਲੋਕ ਮੈਨੂੰ ‘ਗੰਡਾ’ ਕਹਿੰਦੇ ਹਨ।
विश्वामित्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse illustrates a traditional Sanskrit method of explaining names through etymology: a person’s epithet can be justified by a word’s root-meaning (here, ‘gaṇḍa’ as ‘cheek’), linking language, bodily description, and identity.
A character named Gaṇḍa explains to a fire-born interlocutor why he is called ‘Gaṇḍa’: the term denotes the cheek, and his cheek is prominent, so the name fits.