Shloka 22

Devanagari script

गर्हितं मरणं न: स्थादाखुना भक्षिते बिले । शिष्टादिष्ट: परित्याग: शरीरस्य हुताशनात्‌,यदि हमलोगोंको बिलमें चूहेने खा लिया तो वह हमारी निन्दित मृत्यु होगी। आगसे जलकर शरीरका परित्याग करनेके लिये शिष्ट पुरुषोंकी आज्ञा है

Transliteration

garhitaṁ maraṇaṁ naḥ syād ākhunā bhakṣite bile | śiṣṭādiṣṭaḥ parityāgaḥ śarīrasya hutāśanāt ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana dit : «Qu’il ne nous advienne pas une mort infamante — être dévorés par un rat dans ce terrier. Car les hommes de bonne conduite et de droiture enseignent qu’il convient de quitter le corps par le feu.»

Word by Word

गर्हितम्blameworthy, censured

मरणम्death

नःof us / our

स्यात्may be / would be

आखुनाby a rat

भक्षितेwhen eaten / in the state of being eaten

बिलेin a hole, burrow

शिष्टात्from the learned/virtuous (person)

इष्टःdesired, approved

परित्यागःabandonment, giving up

शरीरस्यof the body

हुताशनात्from/through fire (lit. eater of oblations)

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

rat (ākhu)

burrow/hole (bila)

fire (hutāśana)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse contrasts a shameful, undignified end with a death considered sanctioned by dharma: when faced with an ignoble fate, one should choose a mode of leaving the body that is regarded as ethically and socially ‘approved’ by the śiṣṭas (exemplary authorities).

What is happening in the narrative?

The speaker expresses fear of dying disgracefully inside a burrow—being consumed by a rat—and proposes instead the deliberate relinquishing of the body through fire, presented as an action endorsed by respected, righteous people.