Shloka 31
Śaraṇāgata-Atithi-Dharma in the Kapota Narrative (कपोत-आख्यानम्—शरणागतधर्मः)
कुक्कुटारावबहुल॑ गर्दभध्वनिनादितम् । उदघोषद्धिः खरैरवाकक््ये: कलहद्धिः परस्परम्,उस फललीमें सब ओर मुर्गोकी “कुकुहकू” की आवाज गूँज रही थी। गदहोंके रेंकनेकी ध्वनि भी प्रतिध्वनित हो रही थी। वे चाण्डाल आपसमें झगड़ा-फसाद करके कठोर वचनोंद्वारा एक-दूसरेको कोसते हुए कोलाहल मचा रहे थे
kukkūṭārāva-bahulaṁ gardabha-dhvani-nāditam | udaghoṣadbhis kharair avāk-śabdaḥ kalahadbhis parasparam ||
Bhishma said: “That place resounded on all sides with the frequent crowing of cocks and the braying of donkeys. Harsh-voiced men, quarrelling among themselves, raised a tumult, hurling bitter words and curses at one another.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a soundscape of coarse cries and mutual quarrelling to signal moral and social decline: when speech becomes harsh and people delight in conflict, the environment itself turns inauspicious and dharma is obscured.
Bhishma describes a noisy, disorderly scene filled with the crowing of cocks, the braying of donkeys, and people shouting and fighting among themselves, creating a clamour of abusive words.