Shloka 14

Vītahavya’s Attainment of Brāhmaṇya (Vītahavya–Vipratva) | वीतहव्यस्य ब्राह्मण्यप्राप्तिः

Devanagari script

तदेवं शोकहर्षो तु कामद्वेषौ च पुत्रक | अतिमानातिवादौ च प्रविशेते द्विजाधमम्‌,बेटा! इस प्रकार शोक-हर्ष, राग-द्वेष, अतिमान और अतिवाद आदि दोषोंका अधम द्विजके भीतर प्रवेश होता है

Transliteration

tadevaṁ śokaharṣau tu kāmadveṣau ca putraka | atimānātivādau ca praviśete dvijādhamam ||

Translation

Bhishma said: “Thus, my son, grief and elation, desire and hatred, and also excessive pride and contentious overstatement—such faults find their way into a base-born Brahmin (dvijādhama).”

Word by Word

तत्that (thus-mentioned state/manner)

एवम्thus, in this way

शोकहर्षौgrief and joy

तुindeed, but

कामद्वेषौdesire and hatred

चand

पुत्रकO son (dear boy)

अतिमानातिवादौexcessive pride and excessive talk/boasting

चand

प्रविशेतेenter (they two enter / they enter)

द्विजाधमम्the lowest of the twice-born (a vile brahmin)

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhishma

putraka (addressed listener)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhishma warns that a person who should embody restraint and dharma—especially a ‘twice-born’—falls into moral decline when ruled by emotional extremes (grief/joy), attachment and aversion (desire/hatred), and ego-driven speech and pride (atimāna, ativāda).

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Anushasana Parva’s instruction on righteous conduct, Bhishma addresses the listener as ‘putraka’ and explains how specific inner faults infiltrate and degrade a Brahmin who has fallen from proper discipline and character.