Shloka 40

Śrī–Indra–Bali Saṃvāda: The Departure and Fourfold Placement of Lakṣmī

Devanagari script

जरयाभिपरीतस्य मृत्युना च विनाशिना । दुर्बल॑ दुर्बलं पूर्व गृहस्पेव विनश्यति

Transliteration

jarayābhiparītasya mṛtyunā ca vināśinā | durbalaṁ durbalaṁ pūrvaṁ gṛhaspeva vinaśyati ||

Translation

Bhīṣma dit : «Quand le corps est saisi par la vieillesse et par la mort, la destructrice, ses parties les plus faibles cèdent d’abord—comme dans une maison, où les éléments fragiles s’effondrent avant que l’édifice tout entier ne tombe enfin. Ainsi, à mesure que les membres s’affaiblissent toujours davantage, vient un jour où le corps entier s’en va à la ruine.»

Word by Word

• {'jarayā': 'by old age, through senescence (instrumental of jarā)', 'abhiparītasya': 'of one who is overwhelmed/encircled, overtaken', 'mṛtyunā': 'by death (instrumental of mṛtyu)', 'ca': 'and', 'vināśinā': 'destroying, ruinous

• the destroyer (epithet qualifying death)', 'durbalam': 'weak part

• that which is frail', 'durbalam (repetition)': 'the weaker and weaker parts, the frailest portions (emphatic repetition)', 'pūrvam': 'first, earlier', 'gṛhasya': 'of a house', 'iva': 'like, as', 'vinaśyati': 'perishes, breaks down, is destroyed'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• old age (jarā)
• death (mṛtyu)
• house (gṛha)
• body/limbs (implied)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches the inevitability of bodily decline: under the pressure of aging and death, weakness appears first in particular limbs and then culminates in total dissolution. The ethical implication is to cultivate detachment and right living (dharma) rather than relying on the body’s permanence.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s instruction, Bhīṣma is explaining to Yudhiṣṭhira the nature of human life and the body’s fragility. He uses the analogy of a house collapsing in its weakest parts first to illustrate how the body deteriorates progressively until death.