Shloka 9

Bhṛgu–Bharadvāja-saṃvāda: Vānaprastha-parivrājaka-ācāra, Abhaya-dharma, and Lokānāṃ Vibhāga (Śānti-parva 185)

Devanagari script

अद्रवत्वादनग्नित्वादभूमित्वादवायुत: । आकाश स्याप्रमेयत्वाद्‌ वृक्षाणां नास्ति भौतिकम्‌,उनमें न तो द्रवत्व देखा जाता है, न अग्निका अंश, न पृथ्वी और वायुका ही भाग उपलब्ध होता है। आकाश तो अप्रमेय है; अतः वह भी वृक्षोंमें नहीं है, इसलिये वृक्षोंकी पाज्वभौतिकता नहीं सिद्ध होती है

Transliteration

adravatvād anagnitvād abhūmitvād avāyutaḥ | ākāśasyāprameyatvād vṛkṣāṇāṃ nāsti bhautikam ||

Translation

Bharadvāja said: “Because trees show no liquidity, no fiery element, no share of earth, and no presence of wind—and because space is immeasurable and thus cannot be established within them—the claim that trees are constituted of the gross elements cannot be proved.”

Word by Word

अद्रवत्वात्because of non-liquidity

अनग्नित्वात्because of absence of fire-ness (no fire element)

अभूमित्वात्because of absence of earth-ness (no earth element)

अवायुतःbecause of absence of air/wind

आकाशस्यof ether/space

अप्रमेयत्वात्because of being immeasurable/unknowable

वृक्षाणाम्of trees

नnot

अस्तिis/exists

भौतिकम्material (made of elements)

Speaker

भरद्वाज उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bharadvāja

vṛkṣa (trees)

ākāśa (space/ether)

agni (fire)

bhūmi (earth)

vāyu (wind/air)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse argues from observable properties and knowability: if the usual marks of the gross elements (liquidity, heat/fire, earthiness, motion/air) are not evident in trees, and if space is not measurable in them, then one cannot straightforwardly establish that trees are materially constituted by the gross elements. It highlights limits of inference when empirical indicators are absent.

What is happening in the narrative?

In a philosophical exchange in Śānti Parva, Bharadvāja presents a reasoned objection: he challenges a material-elemental account of trees by listing the absence of perceptible signs of the elements and by invoking the immeasurability of ākāśa, concluding that the trees’ gross-material constitution is not demonstrable on those grounds.