Shloka 30

कृपवाक्यं तथा नीत्युपदेशः

Kṛpa’s Counsel and a Discourse on Statecraft

Devanagari script

भविष्यति जनस्तत्र नित्यं चेष्टप्रियव्रत: । धर्मात्मा शक्‍्यते ज्ञातुं नापि तात द्विजातिभि:

Transliteration

bhaviṣyati janas tatra nityaṁ ceṣṭa-priya-vrataḥ | dharmātmā śakyate jñātuṁ nāpi tāta dvijātibhiḥ ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana sprach: „Dort wird ein Mann sein, der stets dem rechten und wohlgefälligen Wandel zugetan ist, standhaft in den Gelübden, die er erwählt hat. Rechtschaffen im Herzen — doch, mein Sohn, selbst die Zweimalgeborenen werden nicht erkennen können, wer er in Wahrheit ist.“

Word by Word

भविष्यतिwill be

जनःthe person/people (a man)

तत्रthere

नित्यम्always

चेष्टप्रियव्रतःone whose vow is dear to effort/activity (fond of exertion as a rule)

धर्मात्माrighteous-souled

शक्यतेis possible / can be

ज्ञातुम्to know

नnot

अपिeven/also

तातO dear (sir/son)

द्विजातिभिःby the twice-born (Brahmins etc.)

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

dvijāti (twice-born)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

True dharma can be inward and subtle: a person may be genuinely righteous and disciplined in conduct, yet remain unrecognized even by learned ‘twice-born’ observers. The verse highlights the limits of external judgment and the hidden nature of virtue when circumstances require concealment.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana describes the presence of a particular righteous individual ‘there’ whose identity will not be discerned even by the dvijātis. In the Virāṭa narrative context, this aligns with the motif of concealed identity and the difficulty of recognizing the truly virtuous when they move incognito.