Shloka 28

बक-गौतमाख्यानम् / The Baka–Gautama Account

On Gratitude and Friendship Ethics

Devanagari script

एते चान्ये च बहव: सगणा दैत्यदानवा: । धर्मसेतुमतिक्रम्य रेमिरेड धर्मनिश्चया:

Transliteration

ete cānye ca bahavaḥ sagaṇā daityadānavāḥ | dharmasetuṃ atikramya remire ’dharma-niścayāḥ ||

Translation

Bhīṣma dit : «Ceux-ci — et bien d’autres encore —, Daityas et Dānavas avec leurs partisans, franchirent la limite qui protège le dharma. Résolus dans l’adharma, ils passèrent leur vie dans la débauche, la fête et les plaisirs complaisants.»

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'ete', 'definition': 'these (persons)'}, {'term': 'anye', 'definition': 'others'}, {'term': 'bahavaḥ', 'definition': 'many'}, {'term': 'sagaṇāḥ', 'definition': 'with their groups/retinues

• accompanied by followers'}, {'term': 'daitya', 'definition': 'Daitya (a class of asuras/demons, descendants of Diti)'}, {'term': 'dānava', 'definition': 'Dānava (a class of asuras/demons, descendants of Danu)'}, {'term': 'dharmasetu', 'definition': 'the ‘bridge/boundary’ of dharma

• a moral barrier or safeguard'}, {'term': 'atikramya', 'definition': 'having transgressed

• having overstepped'}, {'term': 'remire', 'definition': 'they delighted/rejoiced

• they sported'}, {'term': 'adharma', 'definition': 'unrighteousness

• conduct opposed to dharma'}, {'term': 'niścaya', 'definition': 'firm resolve

• settled determination'}, {'term': 'adharma-niścayāḥ', 'definition': 'those whose determination is fixed on adharma'}]

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Daityas
• Dānavas
• Hiraṇyakaśipu
• Hiraṇyākṣa
• Virocana
• Śambara
• Vipracitti
• Virādha
• Namucci
• Bali

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Dharma functions as a protective boundary (dharmasetu). When one deliberately crosses it and becomes fixed in adharma, life turns into mere indulgence, setting the stage for ethical and social collapse and, ultimately, ruin.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhīṣma’s instruction, he cites well-known asura figures (Daityas and Dānavas) as examples of beings who, along with their followers, transgressed dharma and lived in revelry—illustrating a pattern of willful wrongdoing rather than accidental error.