Shloka 8

Devanagari script

योष्ष्टमासांस्तु शुचिना किरणेनोक्षितं पय: । प्रत्यादत्ते पुनः काले किमाश्चर्यमत: परम्‌

Transliteration

yoṣṭamāsāṁstu śucinā kiraṇenokṣitaṁ payaḥ | pratyādatte punaḥ kāle kimāścaryamataḥ param ||

Translation

Nāga nói: “Sữa, khi được những tia sáng thanh khiết (của mặt trời) chạm đến và làm cho chín muồi suốt tám tháng, rồi đến đúng kỳ lại được trao trả. Còn điều kỳ diệu nào lớn hơn thế?”

Word by Word

• योः: of which/whose
• योः: Adhikarana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: यस्
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Singular

• अष्टमासान्: eight months (for)
• अष्टमासान्: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: अष्टमास
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• तु: but/indeed
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तु

• शुचिना: by/with a pure
• शुचिना: Karana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: शुचि
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Instrumental, Singular

• किरणेन: ray (of light)
• किरणेन: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: किरण
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Singular

• उक्षितम्: sprinkled/moistened
• Type: Verb
• Root: उक्ष्
• Form: Past Passive Participle (क्त), Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

• पयः: milk/water
• पयः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: पयस्
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• प्रत्यादत्ते: takes back/receives back
• Type: Verb
• Root: प्रति-आ-दा
• Form: Lat (Present), Atmanepada, Third, Singular

• पुनः: again
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: पुनः

• काले: in time/at the proper time
• काले: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: काल
• Form: Masculine, Locative, Singular

• किम्: what
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: किम्
• Form: Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

• आश्चर्यम्: wonder/marvel
• Type: Noun
• Root: आश्चर्य
• Form: Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

• अतः: than this/from this
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अतः

• परम्: greater/further
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पर
• Form: Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

Speaker

नाग उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Nāga (speaker)
• sun rays (kiraṇa)
• milk (payaḥ)
• time/season (kāla)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse points to the marvel of natural processes governed by orderly time (kāla): what is taken up and transformed by the sun’s rays is returned in season. It invites humility and reflection—nature itself demonstrates a larger, dependable order beyond human control.

What is happening in the narrative?

A Nāga speaker offers an example from the natural world—milk being ‘touched’ by pure rays for months and then ‘returned’ in due time—as a rhetorical proof of something astonishing, using the image to strengthen a philosophical point about the world’s wondrous, ordered functioning.