Shloka 22

Draupadī’s Lament and Theodicy: Dharma, Dice, and Īśvara’s Governance (Āraṇyaka-parva 31)

Devanagari script

यस्य नार्ष प्रमाणं स्याच्छिष्टाचारक्ष भाविनि । न वै तस्य परो लोको नायमस्तीति निश्चय:,भाविनि! जिसकी दृष्टिमें ऋषियोंके वचन और शिष्ट पुरुषोंके आचार प्रमाणभूत नहीं हैं, उसके लिये न यह लोक है और न परलोक, यह तत्त्ववेत्ता महापुरुषोंका निश्चय है

Transliteration

yasya nārṣa-pramāṇaṁ syāc chiṣṭācāra-kṣa-bhāvini | na vai tasya paro loko nāyam astīti niścayaḥ ||

Translation

Yudhiṣṭhira sprach: „O edle Frau, wer das Zeugnis der ṛṣis nicht als Autorität anerkennt und auch die überlieferte Lebensführung der Tugendhaften nicht als Maßstab nimmt, für den gibt es—so urteilen die Kenner der Wahrheit—weder diese Welt noch die nächste. Ein solcher bleibt ohne sicheren Grund für Leben, Pflicht und Sinn.“

Word by Word

यस्यof whom/whose

नnot

आर्षम्of the seers; rishi-based

प्रमाणम्authority; valid means (of knowledge)

स्यात्would be/is (as a possibility/condition)

शिष्टाचारःconduct of the learned/virtuous (good custom)

चand

भाविनिO future one!/O (you) destined one! (vocative address)

नnot

वैindeed; certainly

तस्यfor him/of him

परःother; next (i.e., beyond)

लोकःworld; realm

नnot

अयम्this (world/one)

अस्तिis/exists

इतिthus; 'so'

निश्चयःcertainty; settled conclusion

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Yudhiṣṭhira

Ṛ

ṛṣis (seers)

śiṣṭa (the virtuous/exemplary people)

this world (ayam lokaḥ)

the other world (para lokaḥ)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Dharma requires reliable standards: the testimony of the ṛṣis (ārṣa-pramāṇa) and the lived example of the virtuous (śiṣṭācāra). Rejecting both leaves a person without any coherent basis for right action or for affirming meaning in either this life or the next.

What is happening in the narrative?

Yudhiṣṭhira addresses a noble lady in a moral discussion, emphasizing that those who dismiss seer-authority and exemplary social conduct become unmoored from dharma, effectively forfeiting the ordered goods of both worldly life and the hope of the beyond.