Text 24
api svid asau bhagavān uḍu-patir enaṁ mṛga-pati-bhayān mṛta-mātaraṁ mṛga-bālakaṁ svāśrama-paribhraṣṭam anukampayā kṛpaṇa-jana-vatsalaḥ paripāti.
api svit — can it be; asau — that; bhagavān — most powerful; uḍu-patiḥ — the moon; enam — this; mṛga-pati-bhayāt — because of fear of the lion; mṛta-mātaram — who lost its mother; mṛga-bālakam — the son of a deer; sva-āśrama-paribhraṣṭam — who strayed from its āśrama; anukampayā — out of compassion; kṛpaṇa-jana-vatsalaḥ — (the moon) who is very kind to the unhappy men; paripāti — now is protecting it.
Mahārāja Bharata continued to speak like a madman. Seeing above his head the dark marks on the rising moon, which resembled a deer, he said: Can it be that the moon, who is so kind to an unhappy man, might also be kind upon my deer, knowing that it has strayed from home and has become motherless? This moon has given the deer shelter near itself just to protect it from the fearful attacks of a lion.