सा होवाच, अहं वै त्वा याज्ञवल्क्य यथा काश्यो वा वैदेहो वोग्रपुत्र उज्ज्यं धनुरधिज्यं कृत्वा द्वौ बाणवन्तौ सपत्नातिव्याधिनौ हस्ते कृत्वोपोत्तिष्ठेत्, एवमेवाहं त्वा द्वाभ्यां प्रश्नाभ्यामुपोदस्थाम्, तौ मे ब्रूहीति; पृच्छ गार्गीति ॥ २ ॥
sā hovāca, ahaṃ vai tvā yājñavalkya yathā kāśyo vā vaideho vograputra ujjyaṃ dhanuradhijyaṃ kṛtvā dvau bāṇavantau sapatnātivyādhinau haste kṛtvopottiṣṭhet, evamevāhaṃ tvā dvābhyāṃ praśnābhyāmupodasthām, tau me brūhīti; pṛccha gārgīti || 2 ||
2. She said, ‘I (shall ask) you (two questions). As a man of Benares or the King of Videha, scion of a warlike dynasty, might string his unstrung bow and appear close by, carrying in his hand two bamboo-tipped arrows highly painful to the enemy, even so, O Yājñavalkya, do I confront you with two questions. Answer me those.’ ‘Ask, O Gārgī.’
Having received the permission, she said to Yājñavalkya, ‘I shall ask you two questions.’ The extra words are to be supplied from the preceding paragraph. Yājñavalkya was curious to know what they were. So, in order to indicate that the questions were hard to answer, she said through an illustration: As a man of Benares—the inhabitants of which are famous for their valour—or the King of Videha, scion of a warlike dynasty, might string his unstrung bow and appear close by, carrying in his hand two bamboo-tipped arrows—an arrow might be without this bamboo-tip; hence the specification—highly painful to the enemy, even so, O Yājñavalkya, do I confront you with two questions, comparable to arrows. Answer me those, if you are a knower of Brahman. The other said, ‘Ask, O Gārgī.’