Shloka 28
Bhṛgu–Bharadvāja-saṃvāda: Vānaprastha-parivrājaka-ācāra, Abhaya-dharma, and Lokānāṃ Vibhāga (Śānti-parva 185)
इष्टश्नानिष्टगन्धश्न मधुर: कटुरेव च । निहरि संहत: स्निग्धो रूक्षो विशद एव च
iṣṭaśnān iṣṭagandhaś ca madhuraḥ kaṭur eva ca | nihāri saṃhataḥ snigdho rūkṣo viśada eva ca ||
Bharadvāja said: “(Food) may be eaten with relish and be fragrant; it may be sweet, or again pungent. It may be thick like a stew, compact and well-bound, oily, or dry; it may also be clear and pure.”
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse catalogs sensory and physical qualities of food—taste, fragrance, thickness, oiliness, dryness, clarity—preparing an ethical reflection on how desire and sense-experience attach to eating, and how discipline or discernment should govern consumption.
Bharadvāja is speaking in a didactic context within Śānti Parva, describing varieties of food by their properties, as part of a broader discussion that evaluates bodily enjoyment and the regulation of the senses in the pursuit of dharma and inner peace.