Shloka 11

Marutta’s Sacrifice and Agni’s Embassy (मरुत्त-यज्ञे दूतत्वम्)

Devanagari script

मरुत्त उवाच आश्चर्यमद्य पश्यामि रूपिणं वह्निमागतम्‌ । आसन सलिल पाद्यं गां चोपानय वै मुने,मरुत्तने कहा--मुने! बड़े आश्वर्यकी बात है कि आज मैं मूर्तिमान्‌ अग्निदेवको यहाँ आया देख रहा हूँ। आप इनके लिये आसन, पाद्य, अर्घ्य और गौ प्रस्तुत कीजिये

Transliteration

Marutta uvāca: āścaryam adya paśyāmi rūpiṇaṁ vahnim āgatam | āsanaṁ salilaṁ pādyaṁ gāṁ copānaya vai mune ||

Translation

مَرُتّ نے کہا—اے مُنی! آج میں ایک عجوبہ دیکھ رہا ہوں کہ اگنی دیو مجسم صورت میں یہاں تشریف لائے ہیں۔ اِن کے لیے آسن، جل، پادْی، اَرجھْی اور ایک گائے بھی لے آؤ۔

Word by Word

• {'āścaryam': 'a marvel, a wonder', 'adya': 'today', 'paśyāmi': 'I see, I behold', 'rūpiṇam': 'having form

• embodied, corporeal', 'vahnim': 'Agni

• fire (the fire-god)', 'āgatam': 'arrived, come', 'āsanam': 'seat

• a place of honor', 'salilam': 'water (for welcoming/refreshment)', 'pādyam': 'water for washing the feet (a hospitality offering)', 'arghya (implied by arghyam)': 'a respectful offering to an honored guest (often water with auspicious items)', 'gām': 'a cow (a valued gift/auspicious offering)', 'copānaya (ca + upānaya)': 'and bring/present', 'vai': 'indeed, certainly (emphatic particle)', 'mune': 'O sage'}

Speaker

मरुत्त उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Marutta
• Agni (Vahni)
• Muni (sage)
• āsana (seat)
• salila (water)
• pādya (foot-washing water)
• arghya (honor-offering)
• gau (cow)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights atithi-dharma (the duty of honoring a guest): even a sudden or extraordinary visitor must be received with prescribed courtesies—seat, water, foot-washing water, arghya, and an auspicious gift—reflecting reverence, self-discipline, and ritual propriety.

What is happening in the narrative?

King Marutta expresses amazement at seeing Agni appear in a tangible form and immediately instructs the sage to perform formal hospitality rites and present offerings, treating the divine arrival as an honored guest.