Shloka 7

Cyavana’s Yogic Display and Kuśika’s Recognition of Tapas (च्यवन-योगप्रभावः कुशिकस्य तपःप्रशंसा च)

Devanagari script

च्यवन उवाच सहस्रन॑ नाहमहामि किं वा त्वं मन्‍्यसे नृप । सदृशं दीयतां मूल्यं स्वबुद्ध्या निश्चयं कुरु

Transliteration

Cyavana uvāca: sahasreṇa nāham ahāmi kiṁ vā tvaṁ manyase nṛpa | sadṛśaṁ dīyatāṁ mūlyaṁ svabuddhyā niścayaṁ kuru ||

Translation

Cyavana nói: “Hỡi bậc chúa tể loài người, ta không thể bị mua chỉ với một ngàn đồng. Ngài cho rằng ta chỉ đáng giá bấy nhiêu sao? Hãy ban một giá xứng đáng với ta; hãy tự dùng trí tuệ mà suy xét và quyết định giá ấy phải là bao nhiêu.”

Word by Word

• {'Cyavana uvāca': 'Cyavana said', 'sahasreṇa': 'for/with a thousand (coins)

• at the price of a thousand', 'na': 'not', 'aham': 'I', 'ahāmi': 'am to be bought / am purchasable (sense: ‘fit to be sold’)', 'kim vā': 'or what?

• indeed what?', 'tvam': 'you', 'manyase': 'think, consider, deem', 'nṛpa': 'O king', 'sadṛśam': 'befitting, appropriate, commensurate', 'dīyatām': 'let it be given

• give (imperative/passive nuance)', 'mūlyam': 'price, value, worth', 'svabuddhyā': 'by your own understanding/judgment', 'niścayam': 'a decision, determination', 'kuru': 'do, make'}

Speaker

च्यवन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• च्यवन (Cyavana)
• नृप (a king, unnamed here)
• सहस्र (a thousand coins/mudrās as the proposed price)
• मूल्य (price/value)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Worth and recompense should be proportionate and guided by dharma: one should not reduce a person—especially a venerable sage—to a trivial monetary valuation. The king is urged to use independent judgment (svabuddhi) to determine what is truly appropriate (sadṛśa).

What is happening in the narrative?

Cyavana addresses a king who appears to be offering (or proposing) a fixed payment of a thousand coins. Cyavana rejects that as inadequate and instructs the king to decide, through his own discernment, a fitting value—framing the issue as one of propriety and ethical judgment rather than mere transaction.