Shloka 40

Śrī–Indra–Bali Saṃvāda: The Departure and Fourfold Placement of Lakṣmī

Devanagari script

जरयाभिपरीतस्य मृत्युना च विनाशिना । दुर्बल॑ दुर्बलं पूर्व गृहस्पेव विनश्यति

Transliteration

jarayābhiparītasya mṛtyunā ca vināśinā | durbalaṁ durbalaṁ pūrvaṁ gṛhaspeva vinaśyati ||

Translation

ভীষ্মে ক’লে—যেতিয়া দেহক জৰা আৰু বিনাশকাৰী মৃত্যু আৱৰি ধৰে, তেতিয়া তাৰ দুৰ্বল-দুৰ্বল অংগসমূহ প্ৰথমে ক্ষয় হৈ নষ্ট হয়—যেনে ঘৰৰ দুৰ্বল অংশবোৰ প্ৰথমে ভাঙি পৰে আৰু তাৰ পিছত ক্ৰমে সমগ্ৰ ঘৰখনেই ধ্বংস হয়। তেনেদৰে অংগ-প্ৰত্যংগ অধিক অধিক ক্ষীণ হৈ অৱশেষত একদিন সম্পূৰ্ণ দেহৰ বিনাশ ঘটে।

Word by Word

• {'jarayā': 'by old age, through senescence (instrumental of jarā)', 'abhiparītasya': 'of one who is overwhelmed/encircled, overtaken', 'mṛtyunā': 'by death (instrumental of mṛtyu)', 'ca': 'and', 'vināśinā': 'destroying, ruinous

• the destroyer (epithet qualifying death)', 'durbalam': 'weak part

• that which is frail', 'durbalam (repetition)': 'the weaker and weaker parts, the frailest portions (emphatic repetition)', 'pūrvam': 'first, earlier', 'gṛhasya': 'of a house', 'iva': 'like, as', 'vinaśyati': 'perishes, breaks down, is destroyed'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• old age (jarā)
• death (mṛtyu)
• house (gṛha)
• body/limbs (implied)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches the inevitability of bodily decline: under the pressure of aging and death, weakness appears first in particular limbs and then culminates in total dissolution. The ethical implication is to cultivate detachment and right living (dharma) rather than relying on the body’s permanence.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s instruction, Bhīṣma is explaining to Yudhiṣṭhira the nature of human life and the body’s fragility. He uses the analogy of a house collapsing in its weakest parts first to illustrate how the body deteriorates progressively until death.