Shloka 16

Devanagari script

अल्पभोगकुले जाता अल्पभोगरता नरा: । अनेन कर्मणा देवि भवन्त्यधनिनो नरा:,देवि! इस पापकर्मसे ही मनुष्य अल्प भोगवाले कुलमें जन्म लेता है, थोड़े-से ही भोग भोगते और सदा निर्धन रहते हैं

Transliteration

alpabhogakule jātā alpabhogarātā narāḥ | anena karmaṇā devi bhavanty adhanino narāḥ ||

Translation

Maheshvara disse: “Ó Deusa, por esse tipo de ação pecaminosa, as pessoas nascem em famílias de parcos meios; apegam-se a prazeres escassos e permanecem pobres.”

Word by Word

अल्पभोगकुलेin a family of scant enjoyments

जाताःborn

अल्पभोगरताःdevoted to little enjoyment

नराःmen

अनेनby this

कर्मणाby (this) deed/action

देविO goddess

भवन्तिbecome/are

अधनिनःpoor, without wealth

नराःmen

Speaker

श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Śrī Maheśvara (Śiva)

Devī (the Goddess, addressed)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches moral causality: sinful conduct (pāpa-karma) ripens into constrained life-conditions—birth in a low-resource family, habituation to small pleasures, and persistent poverty—implying that ethical choices shape one’s future circumstances.

What is happening in the narrative?

Maheśvara is instructing Devī in a didactic dialogue, explaining the karmic results of certain wrongful actions and how they manifest socially and materially as limited enjoyment and lack of wealth.