Shloka 55
Puṣkara-Śapatha Itihāsa (Agastya–Indra Dispute at the Tīrthas) | पुष्कर-शपथ-आख्यानम्
वृषादार्थिऱवाच ऋषीणां गच्छ सप्तानामरुन्धत्यास्तथैव च । दासीभर्तुश्न दास्याश्न मनसा नाम धारय
bhīṣma uvāca | vṛṣādarthir uvāca: ṛṣīṇāṁ gaccha saptānām arundhatyās tathaiva ca | dāsī-bhartuś ca dāsyāś ca manasā nāma dhāraya ||
Vṛṣādarthi disse: “Vai aos sete sábios, e também a Arundhatī. Aprende e conserva em tua mente os nomes—e o sentido que neles se pretende—dos sábios, da serva e do marido dessa serva. Tendo compreendido o alcance de todos esses nomes, abate-os; e depois vai para onde quiseres.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse implicitly warns that even sacred knowledge (such as the significance of revered names) can be perverted into an instrument of harm; dharma is not merely knowing meanings, but using knowledge with restraint and right intention.
A figure named Vṛṣādarthi instructs a female being (addressed in the Hindi gloss as a yātudhānī, i.e., a demoness/witch-like being) to go to the Seven Sages and Arundhatī, learn and retain their names (and meanings), and then kill them—an act presented as a dark, transgressive command within Bhīṣma’s narration.