विद्यागृहगतो बालो परामेति कदर्थनाम् । आलान इव नागेन्द्रो विषवैषम्यभीषणाम् ॥ २५ ॥
vidyāgṛhagatō bālō parāmēti kadarthanām | ālāna iva nāgēndrō viṣavaiṣamyabhīṣaṇām || 25 ||
Translation
Gone to the house of learning, the child meets the greatest torment, fearful with the harshness of poison, like a lordly elephant at its chaining post.
Word by word
- vidyā
- of learning
- gṛha
- the house
- gatō
- (gataḥ) gone to
- bālō
- (bālaḥ) the child
- parām
- the greatest
- ēti
- meets
- kadarthanām
- torment
- ālāna
- (ālāne) at its chaining post
- iva
- like
- nāga
- elephant
- indrō
- (indraḥ) a lordly
- viṣa
- of poison
- vaiṣamya
- with the harshness
- bhīṣaṇām
- fearful
Meaning
School. the commentaries agree: a child sent to the teacher's house suffers as a wild elephant suffers when first chained to the post. Freedom lost, every movement corrected, a hard discipline. The verse is honest about something adults often forget. The reader is not told that learning is bad, but that its beginning is painful, and that the child who weeps on the way to school is not being foolish.