Shloka 45
मृत्यु-काल-प्रबोधनम् (Instruction on Mortality, Time, and Truth) — Mahābhārata, Śānti-parva 169
त॑ दृष्टवा पुरुषादाभमपध्वस्तं क्षयागतम् | अभिज्ञाय द्विजो व्रीडन्निदं वाक्यमथाब्रवीत्
taṁ dṛṣṭvā puruṣādābham apadhvastaṁ kṣayāgatam | abhijñāya dvijo vrīḍann idaṁ vākyam athābravīt |
তাকে নরভক্ষীর মতো, পতিত ও সর্বনাশপ্রাপ্ত বলে দেখে সেই ব্রাহ্মণ চিনে ফেলল। তারপর লজ্জায় অবনত হয়ে সে এই কথা বলল।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights ethical accountability: when a person—especially one expected to embody restraint and purity—appears degraded and violence-marked, society’s moral conscience is stirred. Recognition leads to shame and corrective speech, implying that dharma includes acknowledging fallenness and confronting it with principled admonition.
A brāhmaṇa sees someone arrive in a dreadful, fallen condition—so fearsome as to resemble a man-eater. He recognizes the person, feels ashamed (at the person’s state and its implications), and begins to speak, setting up a reprimand or moral instruction in the following lines.