Chapter 5
उवाच चाथ हर्यश्वा: कथं स्रक्ष्यथ वै प्रजा: । अदृष्ट्वान्तं भुवो यूयं बालिशा बत पालका: ॥ ६ ॥ तथैकपुरुषं राष्ट्रं बिलं चादृष्टनिर्गमम् । बहुरूपां स्त्रियं चापि पुमांसं पुंश्चलीपतिम् ॥ ७ ॥ नदीमुभयतो वाहां पञ्चपञ्चाद्भुतं गृहम् । क्वचिद्धंसं चित्रकथं क्षौरपव्यं स्वयं भ्रमि ॥ ८ ॥
Transliteration
uvāca cātha haryaśvāḥ kathaṁ srakṣyatha vai prajāḥ adṛṣṭvāntaṁ bhuvo yūyaṁ bāliśā bata pālakāḥtathaika-puruṣaṁ rāṣṭraṁ bilaṁ cādṛṣṭa-nirgamam bahu-rūpāṁ striyaṁ cāpi pumāṁsaṁ puṁścalī-patimnadīm ubhayato vāhāṁ pañca-pañcādbhutaṁ gṛham kvacid dhaṁsaṁ citra-kathaṁ kṣaura-pavyaṁ svayaṁ bhrami
Synonyms (Word-for-Word)
uvāca — he said; ca — also; atha — thus; haryaśvāḥ — O Haryaśvas, sons of Prajāpati Dakṣa; katham — why; srakṣyatha — you will beget; vai — indeed; prajāḥ — progeny; adṛṣṭvā — having not seen; antam — the end; bhuvaḥ — of this earth; yūyam — all of you; bāliśāḥ — inexperienced; bata — alas; pālakāḥ — although ruling princes; tathā — so also; eka — one; puruṣam — man; rāṣṭram — kingdom; bilam — the hole; ca — also; adṛṣṭa-nirgamam — from which there is no coming out; bahu-rūpām — taking many forms; striyam — the woman; ca — and; api — even; pumāṁsam — the man; puṁścalī-patim — the husband of a prostitute; nadīm — a river; ubhayataḥ — in both ways; vāhām — which flows; pañca-pañca — of five multiplied by five (twenty-five); adbhutam — a wonder; gṛham — the house; kvacit — somewhere; haṁsam — a swan; citra-katham — whose story is wonderful; kṣaura-pavyam — made of sharp razors and thunderbolts; svayam — itself; bhrami — revolving.
Translation
“The great sage Nārada said: My dear Haryaśvas, you have not seen the extremities of the earth. There is a kingdom where only one man lives and where there is a hole from which, having entered, no one emerges. A woman there who is extremely unchaste adorns herself with various attractive dresses, and the man who lives there is her husband. In that kingdom, there is a river flowing in both directions, a wonderful home made of twenty-five materials, a swan that vibrates various sounds, and an automatically revolving object made of sharp razors and thunderbolts. You have not seen all this, and therefore you are inexperienced boys without advanced knowledge. How, then, will you create progeny?”