Keśinī’s Inquiry to Bāhuka and the Emotional Signs of Concealed Identity (केशिन्याः बाहुकपरीक्षा)
बाहुकस्तमुवाचाथ देहि विद्यामिमां मम । मत्तोडपि चाश्वह्नदयं गृहाण पुरुषर्षभ,बाहुकने कहा--'पुरुषश्रेष्ठ) तुम यह विद्या मुझे बतला दो और बदलेमें मुझसे भी अश्व-विद्याका रहस्य ग्रहण कर लो”
bāhukastam uvācātha dehi vidyām imāṁ mama | matto 'pi cāśvahṛdayaṁ gṛhāṇa puruṣarṣabha ||
Rồi Bāhuka nói: “Xin ngài truyền dạy cho tôi tri thức ấy. Và để đáp lại, ô bậc trượng phu tối thượng, xin nhận từ tôi bí truyền về ngựa—khoa thuật điều khiển và hiểu biết về loài ngựa.”
बृहदश्च उवाच
Knowledge should be pursued and shared through respectful reciprocity: one requests instruction humbly and offers one’s own expertise in return, treating learning as an ethical exchange rather than a transaction of power.
Bāhuka asks another person to teach him a particular vidyā and proposes an exchange—he will give in return the ‘aśvahṛdaya’, the specialized secret knowledge of horses/horsemanship.