Shloka 62
कृतयुगवर्णनम् तथा राजधर्मोपदेशः
Kṛtayuga Description and Instruction on Royal Dharma
क्षीणायुषो महाराज तरुणा वृद्धशीलिन: । तरुणानां च यच्छीलं तद् वृद्धेषु प्रजायते,महाराज! उस समयके तरुणोंकी आयु क्षीण होगी और उनका शील-स्वभाव बूढ़ोंका- सा हो जायगा और तरुणोंका जो शील-स्वभाव होना चाहिये, वह बूढ़ोंमें प्रकट होगा
kṣīṇāyuṣo mahārāja taruṇā vṛddhaśīlinaḥ | taruṇānāṃ ca yacchīlaṃ tad vṛddheṣu prajāyate ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O great king, in that time the young will be short-lived and will bear the conduct and temperament of the aged; and the conduct that ought to belong to the young will instead arise among the old.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a dharmic warning about social and ethical inversion: when natural roles and virtues are reversed—youth losing vigor and elders taking on youthful traits—society’s moral order becomes unstable, signaling decline in dharma.
Vaiśampāyana is describing a future degenerate condition (a set of ominous societal symptoms), telling the king that people’s lifespans and customary virtues will be distorted, with youths behaving like the aged and elders displaying what should belong to youth.