Shloka 22
Ulūka’s Provocation and Keśava’s Counter-Message (उलूकदूत्ये केशवप्रत्युत्तरम्)
बहुमित्रा वयं सर्वे तेषां नो मातुलो हायम् । रक्षां करोतु सततं वृद्धबालस्य सर्वश:
bahumitrā vayaṁ sarve teṣāṁ no mātulo hāyam | rakṣāṁ karotu satataṁ vṛddhabālasya sarvaśaḥ ||
三阇耶说道：“我们众鼠在他们中有许多朋友；因此，从今以后就把这只猫当作我们的外舅。愿他时时以诸般方式护佑我们家中的老者与幼者。”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames protection of the vulnerable—elders and children—as a primary duty, expressed through the idiom of kinship: calling someone “mātula” assigns them a trusted, protective role and creates moral obligation.
Sañjaya reports a statement in which the speakers, claiming many friendly ties, symbolically adopt a cat as a ‘maternal uncle’ and charge him with the continual safeguarding of the household’s old and young—an ironic or strategic use of familial language to secure protection.