Shloka 52

मृदु-तीक्ष्ण-नीति तथा दुष्टलक्षण-विज्ञानम्

Measured Policy and the Recognition of Malicious Disposition

Devanagari script

इति दुष्टस्य विज्ञानमुक्त ते सुरसत्तम । निशम्य शास्त्रतत्त्वार्थ यथावदमरेश्व॒र

Transliteration

iti duṣṭasya vijñānam ukta te surasattama | niśamya śāstra-tattvārthaṃ yathāvad amareśvara ||

Translation

قال بهيشما: «هكذا، يا خيرَ الآلهة، قد بيّنتُ لك التمييزَ الذي يُعرَف به الرجلُ الخبيث. وبعد أن تأمّلتُ على وجهه الصحيح حقيقةَ مقاصد الشاسترا (śāstra)، يا ربَّ الخالدين، عرضتُ هذه العلامات التي تكشف طبيعةَ الفاسد».

Word by Word

• {'iti': 'thus

• in this manner (concluding particle)', 'duṣṭasya': 'of the wicked/corrupt person', 'vijñānam': 'discernment

• diagnostic understanding', 'uktam/ukta': 'said

• declared', 'te': 'to you', 'surasattama': 'best among the gods', 'niśamya': 'having heard

• having considered attentively', 'śāstra': 'authoritative teaching

• normative treatise', 'tattva': 'truth

• reality', 'artha': 'meaning

• purport', 'śāstra-tattvārtham': 'the true purport/principled meaning of the śāstras', 'yathāvat': 'properly

• as it should be', 'amareśvara': 'lord of the immortals (an epithet for a deity)'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• surasattama (addressed deity)
• amareśvara (addressed deity)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhīṣma emphasizes that moral discernment—recognizing the marks of a wicked person—should be grounded in the properly understood purport of śāstra, not in impulse or prejudice.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma concludes a section of instruction by telling the addressed divine listener that he has finished explaining the indicators by which a corrupt person is identified, based on correct reflection on scriptural principles.