Shloka 5
लुब्धक-कपोत-कपोती-आख्यानम्
The Hunter and the Pigeon Couple: Expiation and Refuge-Ethics
“क्या इस वनमें मेरी प्रिया कुशलसे होगी? उसके बिना आज मेरा यह घर-यह घोंसला सूना लग रहा है ।।
bhīṣma uvāca | putra-pautra-vadhū-bhṛtyair ākīrṇam api sarvataḥ | bhāryā-vihīnaṃ gṛhasthasya śūnyam eva gṛhaṃ bhavet ||
Bhishma dijo: «Aunque el hogar de un cabeza de familia esté colmado por todas partes de hijos, nietos, nueras y sirvientes, sin su esposa ese hogar es, en verdad, un vacío.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that in gṛhastha-dharma the wife is the essential support of the household; material fullness and even a large family do not remove the sense of emptiness when the spouse—the partner in dharma and daily life—is absent.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction-oriented setting, Bhishma is articulating a reflective maxim about domestic life: despite a home being crowded with relatives and dependents, the householder experiences the home as truly ‘empty’ without his wife, highlighting her central role in the household order.