Shloka 3

Devanagari script

सम्मोहचिन्ताविटप: शोकशाखो भयाड्कुर: । मोहनीभि: पिपासाभिललताभिरनुवेष्टित:,शोक उसकी शाखा, मोह और चिन्ता डालियाँ एवं भय उसके अंकुर हैं। मोहमें डालनेवाली तृष्णारूपी लताएँ उसमें लिपटी हुई हैं

Transliteration

sammohacintāviṭapaḥ śokaśākho bhayāṅkuraḥ | mohanībhiḥ pipāsābhilalatābhir anuveṣṭitaḥ ||

Translation

Vyāsa said: “Delusion and anxious brooding form its spreading boughs; sorrow is its branch, and fear its sprout. It is tightly entwined by the creepers of thirst—cravings that bewitch and bind the mind.”

Word by Word

सम्मोहचिन्ताविटपःthe tree (having) branches of delusion and anxiety

शोकशाखःhaving sorrow as its branch

भयाङ्कुरःhaving fear as its sprout

मोहनीभिःby/with the deluding (creepers)

पिपासाभिःby/with thirsts

ललताभिःby/with creepers/vines

अनुवेष्टितःwrapped/entwined (around)

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vyasa

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse portrays inner bondage as an organic growth: delusion and worry proliferate like boughs, sorrow and fear arise as branch and sprout, and craving (thirst) coils around everything. Ethically, it urges vigilance over desire and mental confusion, since these generate suffering and भय (fear) and keep one from steadiness in dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s instruction on peace and right living, Vyāsa uses a metaphor (a tree overgrown with vines) to diagnose the causes of human distress—moha, cintā, śoka, bhaya, and pipāsā—framing them as interconnected mental forces that entangle a person.