Shloka 28

छत्रोपानहदानफलप्रशंसा — Praise of the Merit of Donating Umbrella and Footwear

Devanagari script

सर्व हि वेत्थ विप्र त्वं यदेतत्‌ कीर्तितं मया । प्रसादये त्वां विप्रषषे कि ते सूर्य निपात्य वै

Transliteration

sarva hi vettha vipra tvaṁ yad etat kīrtitaṁ mayā | prasādaye tvāṁ viprarṣe kiṁ te sūrya-nipātya vai ||

Translation

Bhīṣma dit : «Ô brāhmane, tu sais déjà tout ce que je viens d’énoncer. Quel avantage y aurait-il pour toi à faire tomber le Soleil ? C’est pourquoi je cherche à t’apaiser par une prière respectueuse : renonce, je t’en conjure, à cette résolution d’abattre le Soleil.»

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'sarvam', 'definition': 'all, everything'}, {'term': 'hi', 'definition': 'indeed, surely (emphatic particle)'}, {'term': 'vettha', 'definition': 'you know (2nd sg. perfect of √vid)'}, {'term': 'vipra', 'definition': 'brāhmaṇa

• learned priest/sage'}, {'term': 'tvam', 'definition': 'you'}, {'term': 'yad etat', 'definition': 'this which

• whatever this is'}, {'term': 'kīrtitam', 'definition': 'told, recounted, declared'}, {'term': 'mayā', 'definition': 'by me'}, {'term': 'prasādaye', 'definition': 'I seek to appease/conciliate

• I request favorably (causative of √sad/√sād in sense ‘to please’)'}, {'term': 'tvām', 'definition': 'you (accusative)'}, {'term': 'viprarṣe', 'definition': 'O brāhmaṇa-ṛṣi

• O brahmarṣi (vocative)'}, {'term': 'kim te', 'definition': 'what (is) to you? what benefit for you?'}, {'term': 'sūrya', 'definition': 'the Sun (Sūrya)'}, {'term': 'nipātya', 'definition': 'having caused to fall

• having brought down (gerund of causative of √pat)'}, {'term': 'vai', 'definition': 'indeed, truly (emphatic particle)'}]

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• vipra (a brāhmaṇa sage addressed)
• Sūrya (the Sun)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even when one possesses extraordinary power, dharma requires restraint and proportionality: actions that cause vast harm (like ‘bringing down the Sun’) should be abandoned when they yield no rightful benefit and endanger the world.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma addresses a brāhmaṇa-ṛṣi who is intent on a catastrophic act—making the Sun fall. Bhīṣma argues that the sage already understands the matter, asks what gain could justify such destruction, and tries to pacify him into relinquishing the vow.