The Mountain King Opens His Daughter's Palm
Bala Kanda, Doha 66
Doha 66 · Movement 2 of 2
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Himavan sits before Narada with a father's reverence and concern. The sage knows past, present, and future; his sight travels where ordinary love cannot follow.
The mountain king asks him to look inwardly and speak without concealment. What virtues will flower in his daughter? What faults or hardships are written into the life ahead of her?
Parvati waits within the gathered household while her future rests symbolically in the lines of her hand. The father who can support forests and rivers cannot by strength alone see where those fine marks lead.
A hand rests open before Narada, small enough to hold and marked with a cosmic destiny.
Read the passage from the Manas
AI-created devotional illustration · Doha 66
Himavan respectfully asks Narada about his daughter's faults and virtues while Narada listens.
Source reference and artistic choices
Gita Press code81 undated · PDF pages 87 · printed pages 85. Reader passage: bala-kanda-doha-067. Printed numbering may differ.
Source facts
- Himavan addresses Narada as knower of the three times and asks him to consider his daughter's faults and virtues
Artistic choices
- Select respectful inquiry, no actual palm reading, supernatural omniscience vision or future husband
- Approved conventional Narada/newly imagined Himavan appearances reused, two facing seated forms, open asking hand, plain seats/cushions, inactive vina placement, palace terrace, floral glass arch and distant snow mountain added; wife/daughter outside chosen frame
An imaginative interpretation, not a historical portrait or documentary evidence.
त्रिकालग्य सर्बग्य तुम्ह गति सर्बत्र तुम्हारि।। कहहु सुता के दोष गुन मुनिबर हृदयँ बिचारि।।66।।
"O great sage, you know all three times and are all-knowing; your sight reaches everywhere. Tell me, reflecting within your heart, the faults and virtues of my daughter."