Shloka 29

Devanagari script

राहुरग्रसदादित्यमपर्वणि विशाम्पते । उल्का चाप्यपसव्येन पुरं कृत्वा व्यशीर्यत

Transliteration

rāhur agrasad ādityam aparvaṇi viśāmpate | ulkā cāpy apasavyena puraṃ kṛtvā vyaśīryata ||

Translation

Vidura dijo: «¡Oh señor de los pueblos! Rāhu apresó al Sol en un momento infausto; y un meteoro ardiente, siguiendo un curso hacia la izquierda (de mal agüero), dio vueltas en torno a la ciudad, tras lo cual se hizo pedazos. Son presagios que advierten de desorden y calamidad cuando los gobernantes abandonan la recta conducta y la prudente contención.»

Word by Word

राहुःRahu

अग्रसत्swallowed, devoured

आदित्यम्the Sun (Aditya)

अपर्वणिat an unseasonable time (not on the proper lunar day)

विशाम्पतेO lord of the people

उल्काa meteor, fireball

चand

अपिalso

अपसव्येनin a leftward/inauspicious direction (counterclockwise)

पुरम्the city

कृत्वाhaving made, having done

व्यशीर्यत्was shattered, broke apart

Speaker

विदुर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vidura

Rāhu

Āditya (Sun)

ulkā (meteor)

pura (city)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Vidura uses ominous celestial signs to urge the king toward dharmic governance and restraint: when leadership becomes unrighteous or heedless, nature itself is described as signaling danger, prompting timely correction before disaster.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vidura reports frightening portents—an untimely eclipse-like seizure of the Sun by Rāhu and a meteor moving in an inauspicious leftward course around the city—interpreting them as warnings of imminent ruin in the political situation.