Shloka 11
Chatra–Upānah Dāna: Origin Narrative
Jamadagni–Reṇukā–Sūrya Saṃvāda
पुरा वेदान् ब्राह्मुणा ग्राममध्ये घुष्टस्वरा वृषलान् श्रावयन्ति | पुरा राजा व्यवहारेण धर्मान् पश्यत्यहं परलोक॑ व्रजामि
bhīṣma uvāca | purā vedān brāhmaṇā grāmamadhye ghuṣṭasvarā vṛṣalān śrāvayanti | purā rājā vyavahāreṇa dharmān paśyaty ahaṃ paralokaṃ vrajāmi |
ভীষ্মে ক’লে—যেতিয়া গাঁৱৰ মাজত ব্ৰাহ্মণসকলে উচ্চস্বৰে বেদপাঠ কৰি শূদ্ৰসকলক শুনাবলৈ ধৰে, আৰু ৰজাই ধৰ্মক কেৱল লৌকিক ব্যৱহাৰ-ব্যৱস্থা আৰু মোকদ্দমাৰ দৃষ্টিৰে বিচাৰ কৰিবলৈ ধৰে—সেই সময় অহাৰ আগতেই মই পৰলোকলৈ গমন কৰিম।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma warns against two signs of dharmic deterioration: (1) sacred learning being handled in a way he views as improper for its traditional transmission, and (2) a king reducing dharma to mere ‘vyavahāra’—pragmatic business or courtroom procedure—rather than upholding deeper moral and spiritual justice. The verse frames these as markers of a world he would rather leave than witness.
Bhishma, speaking in the Anushasana Parva while instructing on dharma, expresses a grim forecast: if Brahmins publicly proclaim Vedic recitation in the village to be heard by those deemed unqualified (here termed vṛṣalas/śūdras), and if the king starts ‘seeing’ dharma only through transactional or legalistic considerations, then Bhishma says he would prefer to depart to the afterlife before such a time.