Shloka 10
जलौकसां स सत्त्वानां बभूव प्रियदर्शन: । उपाजिघ्रन्त च तदा तस्योष्ठ॑ हृष्टमानसा:
jalaukasāṃ sa sattvānāṃ babhūva priyadarśanaḥ | upājighranta ca tadā tasyauṣṭhaṃ hṛṣṭamānasāḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “To those water-dwelling creatures he appeared pleasing to behold. Then, with delighted hearts, they came up and began to smell his lips.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a quality of gentleness and auspicious presence: even non-human beings respond with trust and delight. In dharma-literature, such imagery often supports the ethical ideal that purity of conduct and harmlessness naturally elicit goodwill from all creatures.
Bhīṣma describes a scene in which water-dwelling creatures find a certain person pleasing to look at and, feeling joyful, approach closely and sniff his lips—an intimate sign of fearlessness and attraction in animals, indicating the person’s benign, agreeable nature.