Shloka 7

कार्त्तिकेय-जन्मोपक्रमः

Prelude to the Birth of Kārttikeya/Skanda

Devanagari script

प्रकाशबहुलो धीरो निर्विधित्सोडनसूयक: । अक्रोधनो नरो धीमान्‌ दान्तश्वैव स सात्विक:,जिसमें प्रकाश (ज्ञान)-की बहुलता है, जो धीर और नये-नये कार्य आरम्भ करनेकी उत्सुकतासे रहित है, जिसमें दूसरोंके दोष देखनेकी प्रवृत्तिका अभाव है जो क्रोधशून्य, बुद्धिमान्‌ और जितेन्द्रिय है, वह मनुष्य सात्विक माना जाता है

Transliteration

prakāśabahulo dhīro nirvidhitsodanāsūyakaḥ | akrodhano naro dhīmān dāntaś caiva sa sāttvikaḥ ||

Translation

Der Jäger sprach: „Wer reich ist an dem Licht der Erkenntnis—standhaft und gefasst, frei von ruheloser Begier, immer neue Vorhaben zu beginnen; nicht zum Fehlersuchen geneigt; ohne Zorn, klug und selbstbeherrscht—der gilt als sāttvika.“

Word by Word

• {'prakāśa': 'light

• here, clarity of knowledge (jñāna)', 'bahula': 'abundant

• plentiful', 'prakāśabahulaḥ': 'one in whom illumination/knowledge is abundant', 'dhīraḥ': 'steady, composed, courageous

• not shaken by impulses', 'nirvidhitsodanā': 'restless urge to begin/undertake new actions

• itch for fresh enterprises', 'nirvidhitsodanāsūyakaḥ': 'one who is without that restless urge and without envy/censoriousness', 'anāsūyakaḥ': 'not fault-finding

• not inclined to censure others’ defects', 'akrodhanaḥ': 'free from anger', 'naraḥ': 'man

• person', 'dhīmān': 'intelligent

• possessing discernment', 'dāntaḥ': 'self-restrained

• sense-controlled', 'sāttvikaḥ': 'of sattva

Speaker

व्याध उवाच

Characters & Entities

• vyādha (the hunter; speaker)
• sāttvika nara (the sāttvika person; archetype)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Sāttvika nature is identified through inner qualities: clarity of knowledge, steadiness, freedom from restless novelty-seeking, absence of fault-finding, angerlessness, discernment, and self-restraint. The verse frames virtue as a stable ethical temperament rather than external identity.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Vana Parva’s dialogue where the hunter (vyādha) instructs a seeker on dharma, he defines the marks of a sāttvika person, emphasizing mental discipline and compassionate restraint as the basis of righteous living.