Shloka 43

कपिलगोसंवादे गृहस्थ-त्यागधर्मयोः प्रमाण्यविचारः

Kapila–Cow Dialogue: Authority of Householder and Renunciant Dharmas

Devanagari script

वाराणस्यां महाप्राज्ञस्तुलाधार: प्रतिष्ठित: । सोअप्येवं नाते वक्तुं यथा त्वं भाषसे द्विज

Transliteration

Vārāṇasyāṃ mahāprājñas tulādhāraḥ pratiṣṭhitaḥ | so 'py evaṃ nāta vaktuṃ yathā tvaṃ bhāṣase dvija ||

Translation

Bhishma dijo: «En Vārāṇasī reside un hombre supremamente sabio llamado Tulādhāra, firmemente establecido en el dharma. Ni siquiera él hablaría del modo en que tú hablas, oh dos veces nacido». (Así, una voz celestial amonesta a Jājali: su pretensión sobre el dharma es corregida al señalarle a un verdadero ejemplo—Tulādhāra—cuya sabiduría se distingue por la contención y la humildad, no por la autoafirmación.)

Word by Word

• {'Vārāṇasyām': 'in Vārāṇasī (Benares/Kāśī), locative singular', 'mahāprājñaḥ': 'greatly wise, profoundly discerning', 'tulādhāraḥ': 'Tulādhāra (proper name

• also literally ‘holder of the balance/scale’, suggesting a merchant/weigher)', 'pratiṣṭhitaḥ': 'established, firmly situated (in a place or in dharma)', 'saḥ api': 'even he', 'evaṃ': 'thus, in this way', 'na': 'not', 'ata': 'indeed/at all (emphatic particle

• in context strengthening the negation)', 'vaktum': 'to speak', 'yathā': 'as, in the way that', 'tvam': 'you', 'bhāṣase': 'you speak', 'dvija': 'O twice-born (address to a brāhmaṇa)'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Tulādhāra
• Jājali
• Vārāṇasī (Kāśī)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

True dharma is shown through grounded wisdom and restraint in speech, not through proud or exaggerated claims. The verse undercuts self-assured moral posturing by pointing to a genuinely wise exemplar who would not speak arrogantly.

What is happening in the narrative?

A heavenly voice addresses Jājali, telling him that in Kāśī (Vārāṇasī) lives the great sage-like merchant Tulādhāra, and that even Tulādhāra would not speak as Jājali is speaking—thereby directing Jājali toward correction and further instruction.