Shloka 32
गोमूल्यनिर्णयः — The Determination of Value through the Cow
Nahuṣa–Cyavana Episode
चतुष्पथश्मशानानि शैलांश्वान्यान् वनस्पतीन् | कार्ष्णायसमलंकारं परिगृहय॒ च नित्यश:,ऐसे लोग सदा लोहेके आभूषण पहनकर चौराहोंमें, मरघटमें, पहाड़ोंपर और वृक्षोंके नीचे निवास करते हैं
catuṣpathaśmaśānāni śailāṃś cānyān vanaspatīn | kārṣṇāyasam alaṅkāraṃ parigṛhya ca nityaśaḥ ||
Bhishma said: “Such people, taking up ornaments of black iron and wearing them continually, make their dwelling in inauspicious and liminal places—at crossroads, in cremation-grounds, upon mountains, and beneath trees.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse characterizes certain people by their attraction to inauspicious, boundary-spaces (crossroads, cremation-grounds, lonely heights, under trees) and by their continual wearing of black-iron ornaments. In dharma-discourse this functions as a moral marker: such habits signal deviation from settled, purity-oriented social and ethical norms.
Bhīṣma is describing a type of person and their recognizable lifestyle. Rather than narrating an event, he gives diagnostic traits—where they live and what they wear—to indicate their disposition and the ethical category to which they belong.