Shloka 9

अबुद्धिपूर्वकपापविमोचनप्रश्नः — Janamejaya’s Unintended Transgression and the Indrota Rebuke

Devanagari script

अस्माकं विहिता वृत्ति: कापोती जातिधर्मत:

Transliteration

asmākaṃ vihitā vṛttiḥ kāpotī jātidharmataḥ

Translation

Bhishma said: “For us, the prescribed way of living is the ‘pigeon-like’ mode of conduct, determined by the innate duty of our kind.”

Word by Word

• अस्माकम्: of us / our
• अस्माकम्: सम्बन्ध
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: अस्मद्
• Form: —, षष्ठी, बहुवचन

• विहिता: ordained / prescribed
• विहिता: विशेषण
• Type: Adjective
• Root: वि + धा (धातु) → विहित (कृदन्त-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• वृत्तिः: mode of life / conduct / livelihood
• वृत्तिः: कर्ता
• Type: Noun
• Root: वृत्ति
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• कापोती: pigeon-like / pertaining to the pigeon
• कापोती: विशेषण
• Type: Adjective
• Root: कापोती
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• जातिधर्मतः: from (our) class-nature / by the law of species
• जातिधर्मतः: अपादान
• Type: Noun
• Root: जाति + धर्म (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, पञ्चमी, एकवचन

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

One should follow a livelihood and conduct that is ‘prescribed’ and aligned with one’s inherent nature (jāti-dharma/svadharma), here exemplified by the gentle, non-aggressive ‘pigeon-like’ way of living.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhishma’s instruction on dharma in the Śānti Parva, he states a principle of ethical living: the proper ‘vṛtti’ (way of life) is the one ordained for a being according to its innate duty, illustrated through the metaphor of a pigeon’s simple, harmless conduct.