Shloka 30

Dama-pradhāna-dharma (Self-restraint as the Root of Dharma) — Śānti-parva 154

Devanagari script

त्यक्त्वा कथं गच्छथेमं पद्मलोलायताक्षिकम्‌ | यथा नवोद्वाहकृतं स्नानमाल्यविभूषितम्‌

Transliteration

tyaktvā kathaṁ gacchathemaṁ padmalolāyatākṣikam | yathā navodvāhakṛtaṁ snānamālyavibhūṣitam |

Translation

Bhishma said: “How can you bring yourselves to leave this child, whose lotus-like eyes are wide and restlessly beautiful? His body is adorned with a fresh bath and flower-garlands, like a newly married bridegroom. How can your feet even rise to depart, abandoning so enchanting a boy?”

Word by Word

• त्यक्त्वा: having abandoned/left
• त्यक्त्वा: Apadana
• Type: Verb
• Root: त्यज्
• Form: क्त्वा-प्रत्ययान्त अव्यय (त्वान्त), कर्तरि

• कथम्: how
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: कथम्

• गच्छथ: do you (all) go
• Type: Verb
• Root: गम्
• Form: लट् (वर्तमान), मध्यम, बहुवचन, परस्मैपद

• इमम्: this (one)
• इमम्: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: इदम्
• Form: पुं, द्वितीया, एकवचन

• पद्म-लोल-आयत-अक्षिकम्: him whose eyes are lotus-like, restless, and long/large
• पद्म-लोल-आयत-अक्षिकम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अक्षिक (अक्षि)
• Form: पुं, द्वितीया, एकवचन

• यथा: as/like
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यथा

• नव-उद्वाह-कृतम्: done for a new marriage (i.e., newly-wedded)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: कृत
• Form: नपुं, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन

• स्नान-माल्य-विभूषितम्: adorned with bath (freshly bathed) and garlands
• Type: Adjective
• Root: विभूषित
• Form: नपुं, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• a child (bālaka)
• lotus (padma)
• bath (snāna)
• flower-garland (mālya)
• newly-wedded bridegroom (navodvāha / navodvāhaka)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse appeals to compassion and moral responsibility: one should not harden the heart and abandon an innocent, vulnerable being. Bhishma uses beauty and tenderness as ethical persuasion, implying that dharma includes protection and care, not mere departure or indifference.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhishma addresses others who are about to leave a charmingly adorned child. He describes the child’s lotus-like, wide, lively eyes and his garlanded, freshly bathed appearance—like a newly-wedded bridegroom—to question how they can possibly walk away and abandon him.