Shloka 18

Bhīṣma’s Counsel on Reconciliation and Partition (भीष्मोपदेशः—संधि-राज्यविभागविचारः)

Devanagari script

कुन्त्युवाच एवमेतद्‌ यथा प्राह धर्मचारी युधिष्ठिर: । अनृतान्मे भयं तीव्र मुच्येडहमनृतात्‌ कथम्‌,कुन्तीने कहा--धर्मका आचरण करनेवाले युधिष्ठिरने जैसा कहा है, वह ठीक है। (अवश्य मैंने द्रौपदीके साथ पाँचों भाइयोंके विवाहसम्बन्धकी आज्ञा दे दी है।) मुझे झूठसे बहुत भय लगता है; बताइये, मैं झूठके पापसे कैसे बच सकूँगी?

Transliteration

kunty uvāca: evam etad yathā prāha dharmacārī yudhiṣṭhiraḥ | anṛtān me bhayaṃ tīvraṃ mucyed aham anṛtāt katham ||

Translation

Kuntī sprach: „So ist es, wie Yudhiṣṭhira, der dem Dharma folgt, gesagt hat. Doch ergreift mich eine scharfe Furcht vor der Unwahrheit. Wie kann ich vom Sündenmakel der Lüge frei werden?“

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'कुन्ती उवाच (kunty uvāca)', 'definition': 'Kuntī said'}, {'term': 'एवम् एतत् (evam etat)', 'definition': 'so it is

• exactly thus'}, {'term': 'यथा (yathā)', 'definition': 'as

• in the manner that'}, {'term': 'प्राह (prāha)', 'definition': 'said

• spoke'}, {'term': 'धर्मचारी (dharmacārī)', 'definition': 'one who practices dharma

• a righteous observer of duty'}, {'term': 'युधिष्ठिरः (yudhiṣṭhiraḥ)', 'definition': 'Yudhiṣṭhira'}, {'term': 'अनृतात् (anṛtāt)', 'definition': 'from untruth

• from falsehood'}, {'term': 'मे (me)', 'definition': 'to me

• my'}, {'term': 'भयम् (bhayam)', 'definition': 'fear'}, {'term': 'तीव्रम् (tīvram)', 'definition': 'intense

• sharp'}, {'term': 'मुच्येत् / मुच्ये (mucyet / mucye)', 'definition': 'may (I) be released

• be freed'}, {'term': 'अहम् (aham)', 'definition': 'I'}, {'term': 'कथम् (katham)', 'definition': 'how?'}]

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• कुन्ती (Kuntī)
• युधिष्ठिर (Yudhiṣṭhira)
• धर्म (Dharma)
• अनृत (Untruth/falsehood)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse foregrounds satya (truthfulness) as a central pillar of dharma: even when circumstances are complex, a conscientious person fears the moral stain of untruth and seeks a dharmic resolution rather than justifying a lie.

What is happening in the narrative?

Kuntī affirms Yudhiṣṭhira’s dharmic reasoning, but confesses her anxiety about having fallen into (or being implicated in) untruth; she asks how she can be released from the fault of falsehood amid a difficult family situation.