Shloka 55
वृषादार्थिऱवाच ऋषीणां गच्छ सप्तानामरुन्धत्यास्तथैव च । दासीभर्तुश्न दास्याश्न मनसा नाम धारय,वृषादर्भिने कहा--यातुधानी! तुम यहाँसे वनमें जाओ और वहाँ अरुन्धतीसहित सातों ऋषियोंका, उनकी दासीका और उस दासीके पतिका भी नाम पूछकर उसका तात्पर्य अपने मनमें धारण करो। इस प्रकार उन सबके नामोंका अर्थ समझकर उन्हें मार डालो; उसके बाद जहाँ इच्छा हो चली जाना
bhīṣma uvāca | vṛṣādarthir uvāca: ṛṣīṇāṁ gaccha saptānām arundhatyās tathaiva ca | dāsī-bhartuś ca dāsyāś ca manasā nāma dhāraya ||
Vṛṣādarthi said, “Go to the seven sages, and likewise to Arundhatī. Learn and hold in your mind the names—and their intended meanings—of the sages, of the female attendant, and of that attendant’s husband. Having understood the import of all those names, strike them down; then go wherever you wish.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse implicitly warns that even sacred knowledge (such as the significance of revered names) can be perverted into an instrument of harm; dharma is not merely knowing meanings, but using knowledge with restraint and right intention.
A figure named Vṛṣādarthi instructs a female being (addressed in the Hindi gloss as a yātudhānī, i.e., a demoness/witch-like being) to go to the Seven Sages and Arundhatī, learn and retain their names (and meanings), and then kill them—an act presented as a dark, transgressive command within Bhīṣma’s narration.