Shloka 56

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

Devanagari script

अनित्यानीह भाग्यानि चतुष्पात्पक्षिणामपि । जड्गमानां नगानां वाप्यायुरग्रेडवतिष्ठते,इस संसारमें पशुओं और पक्षियोंके भी भाग्यफल अनित्य हैं। स्थावरों और जंगमोंके जीवन में भी आयुकी ही प्रधानता है

Transliteration

anityānīha bhāgyāni catuṣpāt-pakṣiṇām api | jaṅgamānāṃ nagānāṃ vāpy āyur agre ’vatiṣṭhate ||

Translation

Jambuka dit : «En ce monde, les fruits de la fortune sont impermanents—même pour les bêtes à quatre pattes et pour les oiseaux. Qu’il s’agisse des êtres mobiles ou des immobiles, tels les montagnes et les arbres, c’est la durée de la vie qui se tient au premier rang et gouverne tout.»

Word by Word

अनित्यानिimpermanent

इहhere, in this world

भाग्यानिfortunes, fates

चतुष्पात्of quadrupeds

पक्षिणाम्of birds

अपिalso, even

जङ्गमानाम्of moving beings

नगानाम्of mountains (immovables)

वाor

अपिalso, even

आयुःlifespan

अग्रेin front, foremost, primarily

एवindeed, only

अवतिष्ठतेstands, prevails, remains

Speaker

जम्बुक उवाच

Characters & Entities

Jambuka

catuṣpāt (quadrupeds)

pakṣi (birds)

jaṅgama (moving beings)

naga (mountains/immovables)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Fortune and its results are unstable for all beings; what decisively limits and frames experience is āyuḥ (lifespan). This encourages sobriety and detachment: do not rely on luck, but recognize the primacy of time and mortality.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the didactic discourse of the Śānti Parva, Jambuka speaks reflectively, using examples from animals, birds, and even the immovable world to stress that worldly prosperity is fleeting and that lifespan (the rule of time) is the overriding factor.