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

Transliteration

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

Translation

Marutta nói: “Hôm nay ta chứng kiến một điều kỳ diệu—Agni đã đến đây trong hình thể hữu hình. Hỡi bậc hiền triết, hãy dâng ngài chỗ ngồi, nước tiếp khách, nước rửa chân, lễ vật kính dâng (arghya), và hãy đem đến một con bò.”

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.