Shloka 11

Mahāvasu’s Fall by Speech-Error and Release through Devotion (अज-विवादः वसोः शापः विमोचनं च)

Devanagari script

बिशभ्रत्‌ पितुश्च कौरव्य रूपवर्णमनुत्तमम्‌

Transliteration

bibhrat pituś ca kauravya rūpa-varṇam anuttamam

Translation

Bhīṣma sprach: „O Kauravya, er trug die unvergleichliche Schönheit und den Teint seines Vaters in sich.“

Word by Word

• बिभ्रत्: bearing, possessing
• बिभ्रत्: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: भृ (धातु)
• Form: शतृ (वर्तमान कृदन्त), पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• पितुः: of (his) father
• पितुः: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: पितृ
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, षष्ठी, एकवचन

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• कौरव्य: O Kauravya (descendant of Kuru)
• Type: Noun
• Root: कौरव्य
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सम्बोधन, एकवचन

• रूपवर्णम्: form and complexion
• रूपवर्णम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: रूपवर्ण
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन

• अनुत्तमम्: unsurpassed, excellent
• अनुत्तमम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अनुत्तम
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Kauravya (addressed Kuru prince)
• father (pituḥ)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the ideal of noble lineage reflected in visible excellence—suggesting that a worthy son embodies and continues the father’s distinguished qualities, a common ethical motif in the Mahābhārata’s discussions of kingship and dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma addresses a Kuru prince and describes a person being discussed as possessing the father’s unsurpassed beauty and complexion, functioning as a brief characterizing detail within Bhīṣma’s larger discourse in the Śānti Parva.