Shloka 39

Aṣṭāvakra’s Visit to Kubera: Hospitality, Temptation, and the Ethics of Restraint (अष्टावक्र-वैश्रवणोपाख्यानम्)

Devanagari script

तुल्यं मम सहस्र॑ तु सुतानां ब्रह्मवादिनाम्‌ । आयुश्चैव सपुत्रस्य संवत्सरशतायुतम्‌

Transliteration

tulyaṃ mama sahasraṃ tu sutānāṃ brahmavādinām | āyuś caiva saputrasya saṃvatsaraśatāyutam ||

Translation

கர்கர் கூறினார்—எனக்கு என்னைப் போன்றே பிரம்மவாதிகளான ஆயிரம் புதல்வர்கள் உள்ளனர்; மேலும் புதல்வர்களுடன் கூடிய என் ஆயுள் நூறு அயுத ஆண்டுகளாக நிர்ணயிக்கப்பட்டது.

Word by Word

• तुल्यम्: equal (to)
• तुल्यम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: तुल्य
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• मम: of me / my
• मम: Adhikarana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: अस्मद्
• Form: Genitive, Singular

• सहस्रम्: a thousand
• सहस्रम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: सहस्र
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• तु: but / indeed
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तु

• सुतानाम्: of sons
• सुतानाम्: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: सुत
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Plural

• ब्रह्मवादिनाम्: of Brahman-speakers / Vedic disputants
• ब्रह्मवादिनाम्: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: ब्रह्मवादिन्
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Plural

• आयुः: lifespan
• आयुः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: आयुस्
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• एव: indeed / just
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• सपुत्रस्य: of (one) together with sons
• सपुत्रस्य: Adhikarana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सपुत्र
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Singular

• संवत्सरशतायुतम्: amounting to ten-thousand hundreds of years (i.e., 1,000,000 years)
• संवत्सरशतायुतम्: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: संवत्सर-शत-अयुत
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

गर्ग उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Garga
• sons (brahmavādins)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the traditional linkage between tapas/devotion and the granting of boons, while valuing ‘brahma-vāda’—commitment to sacred knowledge and disciplined conduct—as the highest form of prosperity.

What is happening in the narrative?

Garga is describing the extraordinary blessings he has received: a thousand sons who are brahma-vādins like himself, and an immense, divinely allotted lifespan shared with his progeny.