Shloka 7

कार्त्तिकेय-जन्मोपक्रमः

Prelude to the Birth of Kārttikeya/Skanda

Devanagari script

प्रकाशबहुलो धीरो निर्विधित्सोडनसूयक: । अक्रोधनो नरो धीमान्‌ दान्तश्वैव स सात्विक:,जिसमें प्रकाश (ज्ञान)-की बहुलता है, जो धीर और नये-नये कार्य आरम्भ करनेकी उत्सुकतासे रहित है, जिसमें दूसरोंके दोष देखनेकी प्रवृत्तिका अभाव है जो क्रोधशून्य, बुद्धिमान्‌ और जितेन्द्रिय है, वह मनुष्य सात्विक माना जाता है

Transliteration

prakāśabahulo dhīro nirvidhitsodanāsūyakaḥ | akrodhano naro dhīmān dāntaś caiva sa sāttvikaḥ ||

Translation

قال الصيّاد: «مَن كثر فيه نورُ المعرفة—ثابتٌ رزين، متحرّرٌ من لهفةٍ قلقة لابتداء أعمالٍ جديدة على الدوام؛ غيرُ مولَعٍ بتتبّع عيوب الناس؛ لا غضبَ فيه، ذو فطنة، ضابطٌ لنفسه—فذلك يُعَدّ ساتفِيًّا (sāttvika)».

Word by Word

• {'prakāśa': 'light

• here, clarity of knowledge (jñāna)', 'bahula': 'abundant

• plentiful', 'prakāśabahulaḥ': 'one in whom illumination/knowledge is abundant', 'dhīraḥ': 'steady, composed, courageous

• not shaken by impulses', 'nirvidhitsodanā': 'restless urge to begin/undertake new actions

• itch for fresh enterprises', 'nirvidhitsodanāsūyakaḥ': 'one who is without that restless urge and without envy/censoriousness', 'anāsūyakaḥ': 'not fault-finding

• not inclined to censure others’ defects', 'akrodhanaḥ': 'free from anger', 'naraḥ': 'man

• person', 'dhīmān': 'intelligent

• possessing discernment', 'dāntaḥ': 'self-restrained

• sense-controlled', 'sāttvikaḥ': 'of sattva

Speaker

व्याध उवाच

Characters & Entities

• vyādha (the hunter; speaker)
• sāttvika nara (the sāttvika person; archetype)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Sāttvika nature is identified through inner qualities: clarity of knowledge, steadiness, freedom from restless novelty-seeking, absence of fault-finding, angerlessness, discernment, and self-restraint. The verse frames virtue as a stable ethical temperament rather than external identity.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Vana Parva’s dialogue where the hunter (vyādha) instructs a seeker on dharma, he defines the marks of a sāttvika person, emphasizing mental discipline and compassionate restraint as the basis of righteous living.