Shloka 183
द्रोणपर्व — अध्याय ८७: सात्यकेरनुयात्रा
Sātyaki’s resolve and departure to reach Arjuna
सौमदत्तिं श्रुतनिधिं तेषां न श्रूयते ध्वनि: । वेद-विद्याके भण्डार जिस सोमदत्तपुत्र भूरिश्रवाके यहाँ सातों यज्ञोंका अनुष्ठान करनेवाले याजक सदा रहा करते थे, अब वहाँ उन ब्राह्मणोंकी आवाज नहीं सुनायी देती है
saumadattiṁ śrutanidhiṁ teṣāṁ na śrūyate dhvaniḥ |
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “From the dwelling of Saumadatti—Bhūriśravas, a veritable treasury of sacred learning—no sound is heard now. Where priests once continually performed the seven sacrificial rites, the voices of those brāhmaṇas are no longer audible.”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse contrasts the former presence of Vedic study and sacrificial order with the present silence caused by war, implying an ethical warning: when violence overwhelms society, even the sustaining institutions of dharma—learning, ritual, and the brāhmaṇa voice—are disrupted.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra, hearing reports of the battlefield’s devastation, notes that the place associated with Bhūriśravas (Saumadatti), once filled with priests performing the seven sacrificial rites, has fallen silent—an image of cultural and religious ruin amid the conflict.