Shloka 6

महाभिष-गङ्गा-दर्शनं वसूनां शापकथनं च

Mahābhiṣa Encounters Gaṅgā; The Vasus Explain Their Curse

Devanagari script

अष्टक उवाच यदा तु तान्‌ वितुदन्ते वयांसि तथा गृथ्रा: शितिकण्ठा: पतज्जभा: । कथं भवन्ति कथमाभवन्ति न भौममन्यं नरकं॑ शृणोमि,अष्टकने पूछा--जब मनुष्योंको मृत्युके पश्चात्‌ पक्षी, गीध, नीलकण्ठ और पतंग ये नोच-नोचकर खा लेते हैं, तब वे कैसे और किस रूपमें उत्पन्न होते हैं? मैंने अबतक भौम नामक किसी दूसरे नरकका नाम नहीं सुना था

Transliteration

Aṣṭaka uvāca: yadā tu tān vitudante vayāṁsi tathā gṛdhrāḥ śitikaṇṭhāḥ patajjabhāḥ | kathaṁ bhavanti katham ābhavanti na bhaumam anyaṁ narakaṁ śṛṇomi ||

Translation

قال أَشْتَكَة: «إذا ما بعد الموت مزّقتهم الطيور—كالنسور وذوات الأعناق الزرقاء وسائر ذوات الأجنحة—وأكلت منهم، فكيف يعود أولئك الكائنون إلى الوجود، وبأي هيئة يولدون من جديد؟ لم أسمع من قبل بجحيمٍ آخر يُدعى “بهوما”.»

Word by Word

• {'yadā': 'when', 'tu': 'but/indeed', 'tān': 'them (those persons)', 'vitudante': 'they pierce, peck, tear at', 'vayāṁsi': 'birds', 'tathā': 'likewise/and also', 'gṛdhrāḥ': 'vultures', 'śitikaṇṭhāḥ': 'blue-necked birds (lit. ‘blue-throated/blue-necked’)', 'patajjabhāḥ': 'winged creatures/birds (lit. ‘those whose birth is in flying’)', 'katham': 'how?', 'bhavanti': 'do they become/come to be?', 'ābhavanti': 'do they come into existence again, are they reborn', 'na': 'not', 'bhaumam': 'Bhauma (name of a hell

• lit. ‘earthly’)', 'anyam': 'another', 'narakam': 'hell', 'śṛṇomi': 'I hear/I have heard'}

Speaker

अष्टक उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Aṣṭaka
• vayāṁsi (birds)
• gṛdhra (vultures)
• śitikaṇṭha (blue-necked birds)
• patajjabha (winged creatures)
• Bhauma-naraka (hell named Bhauma)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames an ethical inquiry into karma and post-mortem consequences: suffering in naraka is not the end-point, and Aṣṭaka seeks to understand the mechanism of re-embodiment (how beings ‘become again’) and the classification of hells (here, ‘Bhauma’).

What is happening in the narrative?

Aṣṭaka, in a dialogue about the fate of beings after death, asks how those tormented—described vividly as being torn by birds and vultures—can be reborn afterward, and he expresses surprise at hearing of a hell called Bhauma, which he had not known before.