Shloka 5

अबुद्धिपूर्वकपापविमोचनप्रश्नः — Janamejaya’s Unintended Transgression and the Indrota Rebuke

Devanagari script

भस्मीभवति सा नारी यस्या भर्ता न तुष्यति । अग्निको साक्षी बनाकर स्त्रीका जिसके साथ विवाह हो गया, वही उसका पति है और वही उसके लिये परम देवता है। जिसका पति संतुष्ट नहीं रहता, वह नारी दावानलसे दग्ध हुई पुष्पगुच्छोंसहित लताके समान भस्म हो जाती है ।। इति संचिन्त्य दु:खार्ता भर्तारें दु:खितं तदा

Transliteration

bhasmībhavati sā nārī yasyā bhartā na tuṣyati | agniko sākṣī banākara strīkā jisake sātha vivāha ho gayā, vahī usakā pati hai aur vahī usake liye paramadevatā hai | yasyāḥ patiḥ saṃtuṣṭo na tiṣṭhati, sā nārī dāvānalena dagdhā puṣpagucchaiḥ sahitā latā iva bhasmībhavati || iti saṃcintya duḥkhārtā bhartāraṃ duḥkhitaṃ tadā

Translation

قال بهيشما: «تغدو المرأة رمادًا إذا لم يرضَ عنها زوجُها. فالذي تزوّجته المرأة وجعلت النار شاهدةً على عقدها هو زوجُها حقًّا، وهو لها الإله الأعلى. فإذا لم يدم رضى الزوج ذبلتْ وابتُلِعتْ كما تُلتهم كرمةٌ ذات عناقيد من الأزهار بنار الغابة حتى تصير رمادًا.» وإذ فكّرتْ على هذا النحو، وهي مكلومةٌ بالحزن، رأتْ زوجَها حينئذٍ مكروبًا.

Word by Word

भस्मीभवतिbecomes ashes, is reduced to ashes

साshe, that

नारीwoman

यस्याःwhose

भर्ताhusband

नnot

तुष्यतिis satisfied, is pleased

इतिthus

संचिन्त्यhaving reflected/thought thus

दुःखार्ताafflicted with sorrow

भर्तारम्husband (as object)

दुःखितम्distressed, unhappy

तदाthen, at that time

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhishma

Agni (Fire, as witness)

husband (bhartā/pati)

woman (nārī)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse stresses the sanctity of marriage (sealed with Agni as witness) and frames a wife’s dharma as centered on maintaining harmony and her husband’s contentment, using the metaphor of a flowering creeper burned to ash to depict the ruin caused by marital discord.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhishma is instructing on household and marital duty in the Shanti Parva. After stating the principle and its consequences through vivid imagery, the passage transitions to a scene where a sorrow-stricken woman, having reflected on this, finds her husband distressed.