Shloka 8

Aśoka-śāstra: Nārada’s Instruction on the Cessation of Śoka

Grief

Devanagari script

अरिष्टानि प्रवक्ष्यामि विहितानि मनीषिभि: । संवत्सरवियोगस्य सम्भवन्ति शरीरिण:

Transliteration

ariṣṭāni pravakṣyāmi vihitāni manīṣibhiḥ | saṃvatsaraviyogasya sambhavanti śarīriṇaḥ ||

Translation

Yājñavalkya dit : « Je vais décrire les présages funestes — signes annonciateurs de la mort — reconnus et exposés par les sages, qui se manifestent à l’être incarné lorsqu’il ne reste plus qu’une année avant la séparation d’avec le corps. »

Word by Word

• {'ariṣṭāni': 'inauspicious signs

• ominous portents (often indicating impending death)', 'pravakṣyāmi': 'I will declare

• I will explain', 'vihitāni': 'laid down

• established (by authoritative tradition)', 'manīṣibhiḥ': 'by the wise

• by sages and discerning thinkers', 'saṃvatsara': 'a year', 'viyoga': 'separation

• disjunction (here: separation from the body)', 'saṃvatsaraviyogasya': 'of the separation (from the body) after a year

• when a year remains until separation', 'sambhavanti': 'arise

• come to be', 'śarīriṇaḥ': 'of an embodied being

Speaker

याज्ञवल्क्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Yājñavalkya

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames death as a knowable transition marked by recognizable signs, emphasizing the role of wise tradition in preparing a person ethically and mentally for life’s impermanence.

What is happening in the narrative?

Yājñavalkya begins a systematic exposition: he announces that he will list the established ominous indicators that appear when an embodied person has about one year remaining before death.