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 ||
Sinabi ni Vṛṣādarthi: “O Yātudhānī! Umalis ka rito at magtungo sa gubat. Doon, lapitan mo ang pitong Ṛṣi, at gayundin si Arundhatī. Alamin at itanim sa isip ang mga pangalan ng mga Ṛṣi, pati ang pangalan ng babaeng tagapaglingkod at ng asawa nito. Kapag naunawaan mo ang kahulugan ng mga pangalang iyon, patayin mo sila; at pagkatapos ay magtungo ka saanman mo naisin.”
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.