Shloka 143
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
शिल्पिक: शिसल्पिनां श्रेष्ठ: सर्वशिल्पप्रवर्तक: । भगनेत्राड्कुशश्वण्ड: पूष्णो दन्तविनाशन:
śilpikaḥ śilpināṁ śreṣṭhaḥ sarvaśilpapravartakaḥ | bhaganetrāṅkuśaśvaṇḍaḥ pūṣṇo dantavināśanaḥ ||
Bhīṣma dit : Il est le plus éminent des artisans, l’origine et le promoteur de tout art. C’est lui qui creva l’œil de Bhaga, qui brisa les dents de Pūṣan, et qui porte l’aiguillon et le bâton—mémoire marquée par les signes d’une puissance farouche et corrective. Le verset fait paraître une vision morale : même les dieux sont contenus lorsque l’ordre est transgressé, et la force qui détruit est aussi celle qui institue les disciplines grâce auxquelles les arts et les devoirs peuvent prospérer.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a model of authority that both disciplines and enables: the same divine force that punishes transgression (even among gods) is also the source that establishes and sustains the ordered practices—arts, crafts, and duties—by which society functions in harmony with dharma.
Bhīṣma is listing epithets and identifying marks of a powerful deity (commonly understood as Rudra/Śiva): he is praised as the supreme patron of crafts, and recalled through mythic acts—blinding Bhaga and breaking Pūṣan’s teeth—motifs associated with the chastisement of the gods in the context of sacrificial conflict (often linked to the Dakṣa-yajña tradition).