Shloka 50
भृगु–भरद्वाजसंवादः: वर्णभेदस्य कर्माधारितव्याख्या
Bhrigu–Bharadvaja Dialogue: A Karma-Based Account of Varṇa
अपि जातु तथा तस्मादहोरात्रशतैरपि । यदहं मानुषी योनि शूगाल:ः प्राप्तुयां पुन:
api jātu tathā tasmād ahorātraśatair api | yad ahaṃ mānuṣīṃ yoniṃ śūgālaḥ prāptuyāṃ punaḥ ||
Bhīṣma sprach: Möge es niemals geschehen—nein, nicht einmal nach Hunderten von Tagen und Nächten—dass ich, zum Schakal geworden, je wieder eine menschliche Geburt erlange.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the gravity of karmic consequence and the fear of moral downfall: a degraded state (symbolized by being a jackal) is portrayed as so undesirable that one prays never to return to human birth from such a condition. It functions as a warning that conduct can lead to painful states of existence, and that one should guard dharma to avoid such degradation.
Bhīṣma, speaking in the Śānti Parva’s didactic setting, expresses a strong aversion to a particular rebirth scenario: he imagines himself as a jackal and declares that even after a very long time (hundreds of day-nights) he would not wish to regain human birth from that state. The statement heightens the moral seriousness of the surrounding instruction on conduct and its results.