Shloka 2

Devanagari script

येयमर्थोद्धिवा तृष्णा कथमेतां पितामह । निवर्तयेयं पापानि तृष्णया कारिता वयम्‌,युधिष्ठिरने पूछा--पितामह! हमलोग बड़े पापी और क्रूर हैं। हमने धनके लिये ही भाई, पिता, पौत्र, कुटुम्बीजन, सुहृद्‌ और पुत्र--इन सबका संहार कर डाला। यह जो धनजनित तृष्णा है, इसीने हमसे बड़े-बड़े पाप करवाये हैं। हम इस तृष्णाको किस तरह दूर करें?

Transliteration

yeyaṁ arthodbhavā tṛṣṇā katham etāṁ pitāmaha | nivartayeyam pāpāni tṛṣṇayā kāritā vayam ||

Translation

Yudhiṣṭhira sprach: „Großvater, wie können wir umkehren und diese aus Reichtum entspringende Begierde an der Wurzel packen? Vom Verlangen getrieben haben wir Sünden begangen. Durch welches Mittel lässt sich dieser Durst nach Gewinn beenden?“

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'iyam', 'gloss': 'this (feminine nominative singular)'}, {'term': 'artha', 'gloss': 'wealth

• worldly advantage'}, {'term': 'udbhavā', 'gloss': 'arising from

• originating in'}, {'term': 'tṛṣṇā', 'gloss': 'craving

• insatiable desire'}, {'term': 'katham', 'gloss': 'how? by what means?'}, {'term': 'etām', 'gloss': 'this (accusative singular, referring to tṛṣṇā)'}, {'term': 'pitāmaha', 'gloss': 'grandfather

• Bhīṣma (honorific address)'}, {'term': 'nivartayeyam', 'gloss': 'may I/ we turn back

• may we cause to cease (optative sense)'}, {'term': 'pāpāni', 'gloss': 'sins

• demeritorious deeds'}, {'term': 'tṛṣṇayā', 'gloss': 'by/through craving (instrumental singular)'}, {'term': 'kāritāḥ', 'gloss': 'caused to do

• made to act (passive/causative sense)'}, {'term': 'vayam', 'gloss': 'we'}]

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Yudhiṣṭhira
• Pitāmaha (Bhīṣma)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames wealth-born craving (arthodbhavā tṛṣṇā) as a root cause of moral downfall, and it seeks a dharmic remedy: restraint and inner reversal (nivṛtti) of desire so that sinful action is no longer compelled by greed.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s post-war instruction, Yudhiṣṭhira—burdened by remorse—addresses Bhīṣma as ‘Pitāmaha’ and asks how to end the craving for wealth that has driven the Pāṇḍavas into grievous wrongdoing and violence.