Shloka 13

अरण्यवृत्ति-वैराग्योपदेशः | Forest Discipline and the Program of Non-Attachment

Devanagari script

पांसुभि: समभिच्छन्न: शून्यागारप्रतिश्रय: । वृक्षमूलनिकेतो वा त्यक्तसर्वप्रियाप्रिय:,शरीरपर धूल पड़ी होगी और सूने घरोंमें मेरा निवास होगा अथवा किसी वृक्षके नीचे उसकी जड़में ही पड़ा रहूँगा। प्रिय और अप्रियका सारा विचार छोड़ दूँगा

Transliteration

pāṃsubhiḥ samabhicchannaḥ śūnyāgāra-pratiśrayaḥ | vṛkṣamūla-niketo vā tyakta-sarva-priyāpriyaḥ ||

Translation

ধূলিৰে আচ্ছন্ন হৈ, শূন্য গৃহত আশ্ৰয় লৈ, অথবা গছৰ মূলতলতে—সেই মূলতেই শুই—মই প্ৰিয়-অপ্ৰিয়ৰ সকলো বিচাৰ ত্যাগ কৰিম।

Word by Word

पांसुभिःwith dust

समभिच्छन्नःcovered all over

शून्यागारप्रतिश्रयःone whose shelter is an empty house

वृक्षमूलनिकेतःone dwelling at the root of a tree

वाor

त्यक्तसर्वप्रियाप्रियःhaving abandoned all (sense of) pleasant and unpleasant

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Yudhiṣṭhira

deserted house (śūnyāgāra)

tree root (vṛkṣamūla)

dust (pāṃsu)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches deliberate detachment: the aspirant should relinquish the inner habit of sorting experience into ‘pleasant’ and ‘unpleasant’ (priya–apriya). Ethical steadiness is strengthened by accepting austere living—dust, solitude, and minimal shelter—so that judgment and action are not driven by personal preference.

What is happening in the narrative?

Yudhiṣṭhira speaks of withdrawing from worldly comforts and social life. He imagines living like an ascetic—taking refuge in abandoned places or under a tree—signaling a resolve to endure hardship and to abandon attachment and aversion as part of his moral and spiritual response to the circumstances being discussed in Śānti Parva.