Shloka 96

Dama-pradhāna-dharma (Self-restraint as the Root of Dharma) — Śānti-parva 154

Devanagari script

भीम: सुघोरश्च तथा नीलमेघसमप्रभ: । अस्मिन्‌ शवं परित्यज्य प्रेतकार्याण्युपासत,यह अत्यन्त घोर, भयानक तथा नीलमेघके समान काला अन्धकारपूर्ण है। इस मुर्देको यहीं छोड़कर तुमलोग प्रेतकर्म करो

Transliteration

bhīmaḥ sughoraś ca tathā nīlameghasamaprabhaḥ | asmin śavaṃ parityajya pretakāryāṇy upāsata ||

Translation

Dijo el buitre: «Este Bhīma es sumamente terrible: espantoso y oscuro como una nube de lluvia. Dejad aquí este cadáver y cumplid los ritos debidos a los difuntos.»

Word by Word

भीमःBhima

सुघोरःvery terrible

चand

तथाalso; likewise

नीलमेघसमप्रभःhaving a lustre like a dark-blue cloud

अस्मिन्in this (place/thing)

शवम्corpse

परित्यज्यhaving abandoned; leaving behind

प्रेतकार्याणिfuneral rites (acts for the departed)

उपासतperform; attend to

Speaker

गृध्र उवाच

Characters & Entities

ग

गृध्र (vulture, speaker)

भ

भीम (as an epithet ‘the dreadful’)

श

शव (corpse)

प

प्रेतकर्म/प्रेतकार्य (funerary rites)

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?

Even amid terror and uncertainty, one should not neglect dharma—especially the obligatory rites owed to the dead. The verse emphasizes responsibility toward the departed (pretakārya) as a binding ethical duty.

What is happening in the narrative?

A vulture addresses a group, describing a fearsome, cloud-dark presence and instructing them to leave the corpse where it is and proceed to perform the funerary rites for the deceased.