Shloka 99

नलस्य बाहुकत्वेन ऋतुपर्णनगरप्रवेशः

Nala as Bāhuka enters Ṛtuparṇa’s city

Devanagari script

क्व सा पुण्यजला रम्या नदी द्विजनिषेविता । क्व नु ते ह नगा हृद्या: फलपुष्पोपशोभिता:,“वह पुण्यसलिला रमणीय नदी, जिसपर पक्षी निवास कर रहे थे, कहाँ चली गयी? फल और फूलोंसे सुशोभित वे मनोरम वृक्ष कहाँ विलीन हो गये!”

Transliteration

kva sā puṇyajalā ramyā nadī dvijanisevitā | kva nu te ha nagā hṛdyāḥ phalapuṣpopaśobhitāḥ ||

Translation

பிருஹதச்வர் கூறினார்— “புனித நீரால் நிறைந்த, இருபிறப்பினர் நாடிச் செல்லும் அந்த இனிய நதி இப்போது எங்கே போயிற்று? கனிகளும் மலர்களும் சூடி அழகுறும் அந்த மனம்கவரும் மரங்கள் எங்கே மறைந்தன?”

Word by Word

क्वwhere?

साthat (she/that one)

पुण्य-जलाhaving holy water / with sacred waters

रम्याlovely, delightful

नदीriver

द्विज-निषेविताfrequented/inhabited by dvijas (twice-born; also birds by usage)

क्वwhere?

नुindeed, pray (interrogative particle)

तेof you/your

हindeed, alas (emphatic particle)

नगाःtrees (lit. immovable ones; also mountains by context)

हृद्याःcharming, pleasing

फल-पुष्प-उपशोभिताःadorned with fruits and flowers

Speaker

बृहृदश्च उवाच

Characters & Entities

ब

बृहदश्व (Bṛhadaśva)

न

नदी (river)

द

द्विज (dvija—twice-born/Brahmins)

न

नग/नगा (trees)

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse evokes the sanctity of natural spaces—rivers and fruit-flowering trees—especially as places honored by the dvijas. It underscores how sacred landscapes support dharmic life (ritual purity, study, hospitality) and how their loss or disappearance becomes a moral and emotional rupture.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bṛhadaśva speaks in a tone of searching and lament, asking where a once-beautiful, holy river and the surrounding fruit-and-flower-laden trees have gone. The questions convey disorientation and the sense that a familiar, life-sustaining landscape has changed or been left behind.