स ह क्षत्तान्विष्य नाविदमिति प्रत्येयाय तं होवाच यत्रारे ब्राह्मणस्यान्वेषणा तदेनमर्च्छेति ॥ ४.१.७ ॥
sa ha kṣattānviṣya nāvidamiti pratyeyāya taṃ hovāca yatrāre brāhmaṇasyānveṣaṇā tadenamarccheti || 4.1.7 ||
7. [Jānaśruti asked his attendant to go and look for Raikva.] Having looked for him, the attendant thought, ‘I can’t find him,’ and returned to his master. Jānaśruti then said to him: ‘Well, why don’t you go to places where brāhmins are to be found—in forests and solitary places? Look for him there’.
Word-for-word explanation:
Saḥ ha kṣattā, that attendant; anviṣya, having looked [for Raikva]; na avidam iti, thought ‘I have not found him’; pratyeyāya, came back; tam ha uvāca, [then Jānaśruti] said to him; are yatra brāhmaṇasya anveṣaṇā, well, wherever brāhmins are to be found [i.e., in
Commentary:
Jānaśruti’s attendant looked for Raikva in many places, but obviously they were unlikely places. Raikva could be found only in a quiet place, such as a forest or by the side of a river. It would be there that such a person would prefer to stay. So Jānaśruti asked the attendant to search in those places.