Vamana Purana — Jabali Bound by the Monkey, Shloka 33
Jabali Bound by the Monkey: Nandayanti’s Ordeal and the Yamuna–Hiranyavati Sacred Corridor
चत्वारिशच्छतान्येव वार्धके क्लेशमुत्तमम् लप्स्यसे भूमिशय्याढ्यं कदन्नाशनभोजनम्
catvāriśacchatānyeva vārdhake kleśamuttamam lapsyase bhūmiśayyāḍhyaṃ kadannāśanabhojanam
“并且在老年之时，你将有四百年获得极重的艰苦——多有卧地而眠，并以粗劣之食为日常口粮。”
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FAQs
The compound catvāriṃśacchatāni literally yields ‘forty hundreds’ (=4000). Some recensions or interpretive traditions construe it as ‘four hundreds’ (=400) by different segmentation or by contextual harmonization with surrounding numbers. A critical edition check is needed to decide the intended figure.
These are stock markers of deprivation and decline, but they also echo ascetic tropes. The verse can be read as warning that involuntary austerity (through age and loss) differs from chosen tapas; hence one should cultivate dharma before decline forces renunciation.
It motivates urgency: since bodily conditions deteriorate, one should undertake meritorious acts—especially tīrtha-snāna, dāna, and vrata—while capable, rather than postponing spiritual effort to old age.