Shloka 7

सभा-पर्यवसान-प्रस्थानवचनम् | Counsel at the Point of Departure

Devanagari script

मृष्यन्ति कुरवश्लेमे मनन्‍्ये कालस्य पर्ययम्‌ । स्‍्नुषां दुहितरं चैव क्लिश्यमानामनर्हतीम्‌,मैं कुरुकुलकी पुत्रवधू एवं पुत्रीतुल्य हूँ। सताये जानेके योग्य नहीं हूँ, फिर भी मुझे यह दारुण क्लेश दिया जा रहा है और ये समस्त कुरुवंशी इसे सहन करते हैं। मैं समझती हूँ, बड़ा विपरीत समय आ गया है

Transliteration

mṛṣyanti kuravaḥ śleṣme manye kālasya paryayam | snuṣāṃ duhitaraṃ caiva kliśyamānām anarhatīm ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana sprach: „Die Kurus ertragen es schweigend; ich meine, dies ist eine grausame Wendung der Zeit. Denn hier wird eine Schwiegertochter—ja, wie eine Tochter—die es nicht verdient, gequält, und doch duldet es das ganze Kuru-Geschlecht.“

Word by Word

• {'mṛṣyanti': 'they endure, tolerate, put up with', 'kuravaḥ': 'the Kurus

• members of the Kuru dynasty', 'śleṣme': 'in silence

• with restraint (lit. ‘in phlegm’, i.e., without outward reaction)', 'manye': 'I think, I consider', 'kālasya': 'of Time (as a cosmic force bringing reversals)', 'paryayam': 'turning, change, reversal, adverse phase', 'snuṣām': 'daughter-in-law', 'duhitaraṃ': 'daughter', 'caiva': 'and indeed, and also', 'kliśyamānām': 'being afflicted, being tormented, suffering', 'anarhatīm': 'undeserving (of such suffering), not fit to be harmed'}

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Kurus (Kuru dynasty)
• daughter-in-law (snuṣā)
• daughter (duhitṛ)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse condemns passive complicity: when a blameless woman—treated as a daughter of the house—is oppressed, the silent endurance of the Kuru elders becomes an ethical failure. It frames such moral collapse as a ‘reversal of Time’ (kālasya paryaya), highlighting how adharma spreads when those with authority do not intervene.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the dice-hall episode of the Sabha Parva, a Kuru daughter-in-law is being subjected to grievous distress, while the Kuru assembly remains restrained and non-reactive. The speaker observes that this collective tolerance signals a dark turn in circumstances and values within the Kuru lineage.