जनकः ह वैदेहः बहुदक्षिणेन यज्ञेन ईजे तत्र ह कुरुपञ्चालानाम् ब्राह्मणाः अभिसमेताः बभूवुः तस्य ह जनकस्य वैदेहस्य विजिज्ञासा बभूव कः स्विद् एषाम् ब्राह्मणानाम् अनूचानतमः इति सः ह गवाम् सहस्रम् अवरुरोध दशदश पादाः एकैकस्याः शृङ्गयोः आबद्धाः बभूवुः
janakaḥ ha vaidehaḥ bahudakṣiṇena yajñena īje tatra ha kurupañcālānām brāhmaṇāḥ abhisametāḥ babhūvuḥ tasya ha janakasya vaidehasya vijijñāsā babhūva kaḥ svid eṣām brāhmaṇānām anūcānatamaḥ iti saḥ ha gavām sahasram avarurodha daśadaśa pādāḥ ekaikasyāḥ śṛṅgayoḥ ābaddhāḥ babhūvuḥ
Janaka of Videha performed a sacrifice with rich gifts. The brāhmaṇas of the Kurus and the Pañcālas gathered there. And Janaka of Videha wished to know: which of these brāhmaṇas is the most learned? He set apart a thousand cows, and to the horns of each were tied ten pādas of gold.
a9ec2d024510 · 发布于 2026年7月27日 00:58:45 UTC
可用语言RUEN用方向键翻颂
The scene opens on the greatest theological tournament of antiquity — the court of Janaka, king of Videha, whose name became a byword for the sage-king (it was his fame that Ajātaśatru jealously invoked, 2.1.1). The whole learned world of two great lands, the Kurus and the Pañcālas, has come to the sacrificial festival; and the king puts a question worthy of a king: not "who is nobler" but kaḥ svid anūcānatamaḥ — "who is the most learned?"
And he sets a prize that takes the breath away: a thousand cows, each with ten pādas of gold on her horns. But this prize is a trap of dignity: to take it is to declare oneself publicly, before everybody, the best knower of Brahman; to be wrong is to be disgraced for ever. Janaka is testing not even knowledge but something deeper than knowledge: whether anyone dares to know that he knows. So begins the brahmodya, the sacred battle of questions, out of which one voice will come unbeaten.