Shloka 45

मृदु-तीक्ष्ण-नीति तथा दुष्टलक्षण-विज्ञानम्

Measured Policy and the Recognition of Malicious Disposition

Devanagari script

इन्द्र रवाच कानि लिड्जानि दुष्टस्य भवन्ति द्विजसत्तम | कथं दुष्ट विजानीयामेतत्‌ पृष्टो वदस्व मे

Transliteration

indra uvāca: kāni liṅgāni duṣṭasya bhavanti dvijasattama | kathaṃ duṣṭaṃ vijānīyām etat pṛṣṭo vadasva me ||

Translation

Indra demanda : «Ô le meilleur des deux-fois-nés, quels sont les signes distinctifs d’un homme mauvais ? Comment puis-je reconnaître le méchant ? Interrogé ainsi, dis-moi la réponse.»

Word by Word

• {'indra uvāca': 'Indra said', 'kāni': 'which? what kinds of?', 'liṅgāni': 'signs, marks, distinguishing characteristics', 'duṣṭasya': 'of the wicked, corrupt, depraved person', 'bhavanti': 'are, occur, come to be', 'dvija-sattama': 'O best among the twice-born (Brahmin/learned one)', 'katham': 'how?', 'duṣṭam': 'the wicked person', 'vijānīyām': 'may I know/recognize (optative sense)', 'etat': 'this', 'pṛṣṭaḥ': 'when asked

• having been questioned', 'vadasva': 'tell, speak (imperative)', 'me': 'to me'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Indra
• dvijasattama (a Brahmin/learned interlocutor)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames an ethical inquiry: true discernment in dharma requires knowing the observable signs (liṅga) by which harmful or corrupt character can be identified, so that one may avoid, restrain, or correct such conduct.

What is happening in the narrative?

Within Bhīṣma’s instruction in the Śānti Parva, a dialogue is recalled in which Indra questions a learned Brahmin about the defining marks of a wicked person and asks how such a person can be recognized.