Shloka 32

Devanagari script

एष षड्विधविस्तारो रसो वारिमय: स्मृत: । शब्द: स्पर्शश्ष॒ रूप॑ं च त्रिगुणं ज्योतिरुच्यते

Transliteration

bharadvāja uvāca | eṣa ṣaḍvidha-vistāro raso vārimayaḥ smṛtaḥ | śabdaḥ sparśaś ca rūpaṃ ca triguṇaṃ jyotir ucyate ||

Translation

Bharadvāja sprach: „Dieser ‘Geschmack’ wird als sechsfach entfaltet und als von wässriger Natur überliefert. Klang, Berührung und Gestalt gelten als dem Licht zugehörig, das aus den drei Guṇas besteht.“

Word by Word

एषःthis

षड्विध-विस्तारःthe expansion in six ways (sixfold extension)

रसःtaste

वारिमयःconsisting of water; watery

स्मृतःis considered/remembered (as)

शब्दःsound

स्पर्शःtouch

रूपम्form; color

चand

त्रिगुणम्having three qualities; threefold

ज्योतिःlight; luminosity

उच्यतेis said/called

Speaker

भरद्वाज उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bharadvāja

rasa (taste)

vāri (water)

śabda (sound)

sparśa (touch)

rūpa (form/colour)

jyotis (light)

triguṇa (three guṇas)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse maps sense-objects to elemental principles: taste is characterized as watery and diversified, while sound, touch, and form are associated with the luminous principle (jyotis/tejas) described as operating through the three guṇas. It reflects a cosmological-psychological analysis used for discernment and detachment.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the didactic discourse of Śānti Parva, Bharadvāja is explaining a philosophical account of how sensory qualities and elements relate, using traditional categories (rasa, śabda, sparśa, rūpa; water and light; the three guṇas) to instruct about the constitution of experience and the world.