Shloka 40

Śrī–Indra–Bali Saṃvāda: The Departure and Fourfold Placement of Lakṣmī

Devanagari script

जरयाभिपरीतस्य मृत्युना च विनाशिना । दुर्बल॑ दुर्बलं पूर्व गृहस्पेव विनश्यति,जैसे मकानके दुर्बल-दुर्बल अंग पहले नष्ट होने लगते हैं और फिर क्रमश: सारा मकान ही गिर जाता है, उसी प्रकार वृद्धावस्था और विनाशकारी मृत्युसे आक्रान्त हुए शरीरके दुर्बल-दुर्बल अंग क्षीण होते-होते एक दिन सम्पूर्ण शरीरका नाश हो जाता है

Transliteration

jarayābhiparītasya mṛtyunā ca vināśinā | durbalaṁ durbalaṁ pūrvaṁ gṛhaspeva vinaśyati ||

Translation

Bhīṣma sprach: „Wenn der Leib von Alter und vom Tod, dem Zerstörer, ergriffen wird, versagen zuerst seine schwächeren Teile—wie bei einem Haus, dessen morsche Stellen zuerst einstürzen, bevor schließlich das ganze Gebäude fällt. So auch hier: Während die Glieder immer schwächer werden, kommt eines Tages der ganze Körper zu Fall.“

Word by Word

• {'jarayā': 'by old age, through senescence (instrumental of jarā)', 'abhiparītasya': 'of one who is overwhelmed/encircled, overtaken', 'mṛtyunā': 'by death (instrumental of mṛtyu)', 'ca': 'and', 'vināśinā': 'destroying, ruinous

• the destroyer (epithet qualifying death)', 'durbalam': 'weak part

• that which is frail', 'durbalam (repetition)': 'the weaker and weaker parts, the frailest portions (emphatic repetition)', 'pūrvam': 'first, earlier', 'gṛhasya': 'of a house', 'iva': 'like, as', 'vinaśyati': 'perishes, breaks down, is destroyed'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• old age (jarā)
• death (mṛtyu)
• house (gṛha)
• body/limbs (implied)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches the inevitability of bodily decline: under the pressure of aging and death, weakness appears first in particular limbs and then culminates in total dissolution. The ethical implication is to cultivate detachment and right living (dharma) rather than relying on the body’s permanence.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s instruction, Bhīṣma is explaining to Yudhiṣṭhira the nature of human life and the body’s fragility. He uses the analogy of a house collapsing in its weakest parts first to illustrate how the body deteriorates progressively until death.