Shloka 246
Uttanka’s Guru-Śuśrūṣā and the Commission to Retrieve the Maṇikuṇḍalas (उत्तङ्क-गुरुशुश्रूषा तथा मणिकुण्डल-आदेशः)
सलिल विप्रमुख्येभ्यो मातड्स्रोतसा विभो | तदनन्तर शंख
salila-vipramukhye-bhyo mātaṅga-srotasā vibho | tadanantaraṁ śaṅkha-cakra-gadā-dhāraṇo bhagavān śrīkṛṣṇas tasmin mārge prakaṭī-bhūya ājagāma | taṁ dṛṣṭvā mahāmatiḥ uttaṅka uvāca— “puruṣottama! prabho! śreṣṭha-brāhmaṇebhyaḥ caṇḍāla-spṛṣṭaṁ tathā apavitraṁ jalaṁ dātuṁ na yuktam” iti ||
Mula sa batis na kaugnay ni Mātaṅga (isang pinagmumulan na itinuturing na marumi), inialay ang tubig sa mga pangunahing brāhmaṇa. Pagkaraan nito, agad na nagpakita sa mismong landas na iyon ang Panginoong Śrī Kṛṣṇa—taglay ang kabibe, diskos, at pamalo—at lumapit. Nang makita Siya, sinabi ng marunong na si Uttaṅka: “O Puruṣottama, O Panginoon! Hindi nararapat na bigyan ang mga dakilang brāhmaṇa ng gayong maruming tubig na nahawakan ng isang caṇḍāla.”
उत्तडुक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage foregrounds a dharmic-ethical tension between ritual notions of purity and the presence of the divine: Uttanka insists that offerings to brāhmaṇas must be uncontaminated, while Kṛṣṇa’s immediate manifestation frames the moment as a test or clarification of values—how one judges purity, propriety, and reverence in practice.
Water associated with a socially stigmatized source (mātaṅga-srotas) is involved in an offering context for eminent brāhmaṇas. Right after this, Kṛṣṇa appears bearing His divine weapons. Uttanka, seeing Him, objects that giving caṇḍāla-touched water to brāhmaṇas is improper, directly addressing Kṛṣṇa with a moral protest.