Shloka 74

Adhyāya 90: Babhruvāhana’s Reception and the Commencement of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Aśvamedha

Devanagari script

षष्ठे काले व्रतवतीं शौचशीलतपो<न्विताम्‌ । कृच्छ्वृत्तिं निराहारां द्रक्ष्यामि त्वां कथं शुभे

Transliteration

ṣaṣṭhe kāle vratavatīṃ śaucāśīlatapo'nvitām | kṛcchravṛttiṃ nirāhārāṃ drakṣyāmi tvāṃ kathaṃ śubhe ||

Translation

Cha chồng nói: “Hỡi người hiền cát tường, nàng giữ một lời thệ nguyện—chỉ ăn vào thời khắc thứ sáu—vững bền trong thanh tịnh, hạnh kiểm và khổ hạnh. Sinh kế của nàng chỉ được duy trì trong muôn phần khó nhọc. Hôm nay, làm sao ta có thể chịu nổi khi thấy nàng chỉ cầm nắm bột rang (sattu) mà vẫn nhịn ăn?”

Word by Word

• {'ṣaṣṭhe kāle': 'at the sixth time/period (a fixed time for taking food as part of a vow)', 'vratavatī': 'a woman observing a vow', 'śauca': 'purity, cleanliness (outer and inner)', 'śīla': 'good conduct, moral character', 'tapas': 'austerity, disciplined ascetic effort', 'anvitā': 'endowed with, possessed of', 'kṛcchravṛtti': 'one whose subsistence is difficult

• living with hardship', 'nirāhārā': 'without food

• fasting', 'drakṣyāmi': 'shall I see (how can I see)', 'tvām': 'you', 'katham': 'how?', 'śubhe': 'O auspicious one (vocative address)'}

Speaker

श्षशुर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• śvaśura (father-in-law, speaker)
• vratavatī (the vow-observing woman addressed as śubhe)
• sattū (parched flour; implied by the Hindi gloss)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the ethical tension between rigorous personal austerity (vrata, tapas, śauca, śīla) and compassionate concern within the household: virtue is honored, yet elders also feel responsible to protect a devoted practitioner from excessive hardship.

What is happening in the narrative?

A father-in-law addresses a woman in his family who follows a strict vow of eating only at a prescribed time. Seeing her living with difficulty and apparently fasting with only simple provisions, he expresses distress and questions how he can watch her remain without food.