Shloka 10
Adhyāya 14: Sudēṣṇā Sends Sairandhrī to Kīcaka’s House (सुदेष्णा–सैरन्ध्री–कीचक संवादः)
प्रभूतनागा श्वरथं महाजन समृद्धियुक्तं बहुपानभोजनम् । मनोहरं काञ्चनचित्रभूषणं गृहं महच्छोभयतामियं मम,“मेरे घरमें बहुत-से हाथी, घोड़े और रथ हैं, बहुत-से सेवा करनेवाले परिजन हैं तथा उसमें प्रचुर सम्पत्ति भरी है। भोजन और पेयकी उसमें अधिकता है। देखनेमें भी वह मनोहर है। सुवर्णमय चित्र उसकी शोभा बढ़ा रहे हैं। मेरे उस विशाल भवनमें चलकर यह सुन्दरी उसे सुशोभित करे”
vaiśampāyana uvāca | prabhūtanāgāśva-rathaṃ mahājana-samṛddhi-yuktaṃ bahu-pāna-bhojanam | manoharaṃ kāñcana-citra-bhūṣaṇaṃ gṛhaṃ mahat śobhayatām iyaṃ mama |
Disse Vaiśampāyana: “Minha grande casa está guarnecida de muitos elefantes, cavalos e carros; é servida por numerosa comitiva e dotada de abundante riqueza. Há nela fartura de comida e bebida. É agradável de ver, adornada com desenhos decorativos de ouro. Que esta bela mulher venha e dê graça à minha vasta morada.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how material abundance and aesthetic splendor can be used as persuasion. Ethically, it points to the risk of reducing a person—here, a woman—to an ornament for one’s status, revealing the tension between desire-driven speech and dharmic restraint.
A speaker (reported by Vaiśampāyana) boasts of his household’s riches—elephants, horses, chariots, attendants, plentiful food and drink, and golden decorations—and invites a beautiful woman to come to his large house, implying she would enhance its splendor.