Shloka 32
Garuḍa’s Breach of the Amṛta-Guard and Boons with Viṣṇu; Encounter with Indra (Ādi-parva, Adhyāya 29)
महा भ्रघनसंकाशं तं भुक्त्वामृतमानय । महागिरिसमप्रख्यं घोररूपं च हस्तिनम्,कछुआ महान् मेघ-खण्डके समान है और हाथी भी महान् पर्वतके समान भयंकर है। उन्हीं दोनोंको खाकर अमृत ले आओ
mahā-bhraghana-saṅkāśaṃ taṃ bhuktvā amṛtam ānaya | mahā-giri-sama-prakhyaṃ ghora-rūpaṃ ca hastinam ||
Sinabi ni Kaśyapa: “Pagkain mo ang malaking pagong na yaon—madilim at napakabigat na parang siksik na kumpol ng ulap—at dalhin mo ang amṛta. At kainin mo rin ang elepante—kasinglaki ng dambuhalang bundok at kakila-kilabot ang anyo—at dalhin mo ang amṛta.”
कश्यप उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the power of command and obedience within a mythic-ethical frame: an authoritative sage directs a formidable act to obtain amṛta, raising the tension between duty to a superior command and the moral weight of destructive means.
Kashyapa instructs the addressee to devour two immense beings—a tortoise likened to a dense cloud-mass and a terrifying elephant like a mountain—and then to bring back amṛta (nectar), intensifying the quest motif through vivid, hyperbolic imagery.