Shloka 21
Adhyaya 3 — The Dharmapakshis’ Past-Life Curse and Indra’s Test of Truthfulness
पक्ष्युवाच द्विजेन्द्र मां क्षुधाविष्टं परित्रातुमिहार्हसि ।
भक्षणार्थो महाभाग गतिर्भव ममातुला ॥
pakṣy uvāca dvijendra māṃ kṣudhāviṣṭaṃ paritrātum ihārhasi | bhakṣaṇārtho mahābhāga gatir bhava mamātulā ||
پرندے نے کہا: “اے دَویجوں میں برتر! یہاں بھوک سے ستایا ہوا مجھے بچائیے۔ اے نیک بخت! خوراک کے حصول کے لیے بھی آپ میرے بے مثال پناہ بنیں۔”
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FAQs
The verse foregrounds the dharmic tension between compassion and survival: hunger (kṣudhā) is presented as a compelling force that drives beings to seek protection and sustenance. The ethical emphasis is on the duty of the capable and righteous (dvijendra) to provide refuge (gati) to the distressed, even when the request is motivated by basic bodily need.
This verse is primarily within the Purana’s didactic/dialogue function rather than the pancalakṣaṇa core (sarga, pratisarga, vaṃśa, manvantara, vaṃśānucarita). It aligns most closely with dharma-upadeśa embedded in narrative framing, not with cosmology or genealogy.
Symbolically, the ‘bird’ can represent the embodied jīva driven by hunger and instinct, while the dvijendra represents discriminative wisdom and dharmic agency. The plea to become ‘gati’ (refuge) points to the inner need for a higher support—ethically as protection of life, and inwardly as guidance that subdues the compulsions of appetite through right action.