Devanagari
अपि च न वृक: सालावृकोऽन्यतमो वा नैकचर एकचरो वा भक्षयति ॥ १८ ॥
Verse text
api ca na vṛkaḥ sālā-vṛko ’nyatamo vā naika-cara eka-caro vā bhak-ṣayati.
Synonyms
api ca
—
or
;
na
—
not
;
vṛkaḥ
—
a wolf
;
sālā
—
vṛkaḥ — a dog
;
anyatamaḥ
—
any one of many
;
vā
—
or
;
na
—
eka — caraḥ — the hogs that flock together
;
eka
—
caraḥ — the tiger that wanders alone
;
vā
—
or
;
bhakṣayati
—
is eating (the poor creature) .
Translation
I do not know, but the deer might have been eaten by a wolf or a dog or by the boars that flock together or the tiger who travels alone.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Perhaps a wolf or jackal, or a tiger or in a group of animals has eaten the deer.
Those traveling in groups are wild boars. Those traveling alone are tigers and others. Will they not eat him?
Purport
Tigers never wander in the forest in flocks. Each tiger wanders alone, but forest boars keep together. Similarly, hogs, wolves and dogs also do the same. Thus Mahārāja Bharata thought that the deer had been killed by some of the many ferocious animals within the forest.