Mahabharata 11.6.9 — Stree Parva, Adhyaya 6, Shloka 9
Adhyāya 6: Vidura’s Saṃsāra-Upamā
The Allegory of the Well, Time, and Desire
कूपमध्ये च या जाता वल्ली यत्र स मानव: । प्रताने लम्बते लग्नो जीविताशा शरीरिणाम्,कुँएके मध्यभागमें जो लता उत्पन्न हुई बतायी गयी है, जिसको पकड़कर वह मनुष्य लटक रहा है, वह देहधारियोंके जीवनकी आशा ही है
kūpa-madhye ca yā jātā vallī yatra sa mānavaḥ | pratāne lambate lagno jīvitāśā śarīriṇām ||
La liane qui a surgi au milieu du puits—à la vrille déployée de laquelle l’homme s’agrippe et demeure suspendu—figure l’espoir même de vivre de l’être incarné, appui fragile au cœur du péril.
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Life in saṃsāra is precarious: the embodied being survives by clinging to a slender, uncertain support—mere ‘hope of life’—so one should cultivate discernment and detachment rather than complacent reliance on fragile worldly props.
Vidura continues an allegorical description: a man has fallen into a well and hangs onto a vine’s tendril; that vine is identified as the being’s hope to keep living, emphasizing how survival depends on tenuous conditions.
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