Shloka 49

भृगु–भरद्वाजसंवादः: वर्णभेदस्य कर्माधारितव्याख्या

Bhrigu–Bharadvaja Dialogue: A Karma-Based Account of Varṇa

Devanagari script

नास्तिकः सर्वशड्की च मूर्ख: पण्डितमानिक: । तस्येयं फलनिर्वुत्ति: शृगालत्वं मम द्विज,“मैं नास्तिक, सबपर संदेह करनेवाला तथा मूर्ख होकर भी अपनेको पण्डित माननेवाला था। विप्रवर! यह शृगालयोनि मेरे उसी कुकर्मका फल है

Transliteration

nāstikaḥ sarvaśaṅkī ca mūrkhaḥ paṇḍitamānī ca | tasyeyaṃ phalanirvṛttiḥ śṛgālatvaṃ mama dvija ||

Translation

Bhīṣma said: I was an unbeliever, suspicious of everyone, and though foolish I fancied myself learned. O brāhmaṇa, this present condition of being born as a jackal is the manifested result of those misdeeds of mine.

Word by Word

नास्तिकःan atheist

सर्वशङ्कीone who suspects everyone

चand

मूर्खःa fool

पण्डितमानिकःone who fancies himself a scholar

तस्यof him / his

इयम्this

फलनिर्वृत्तिःresulting outcome (as fruit)

शृगालत्वम्jackal-nature / jackalhood

ममof me / my

द्विजO brahmin

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

dvija (brāhmaṇa addressee)

śṛgāla (jackal)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Distrust, denial of moral truth, and arrogant pretence of learning are ethical faults that ripen into suffering; true wisdom requires humility and right conduct, not mere self-assertion.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma, speaking to a brāhmaṇa, confesses his former character—atheistic, suspicious, and vainly self-proclaimed learned—and explains that his present degraded condition (jackalhood) is the karmic result of those wrong actions.