Shloka 48

Dambhodbhava, Nara-Nārāyaṇa, and the Counsel to Abandon Hubris

Udyoga-parva 94

Devanagari script

यत्र धर्मो हधर्मेण सत्यं यत्रानृतेन च

Transliteration

yatra dharmo 'dharmena satyaṃ yatrānṛtena ca

Translation

Vaiśaṃpāyana dit : « Là où le dharma est submergé par l’adharma, et où la vérité est chassée par le mensonge. »

Word by Word

• यत्र: where
• यत्र: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यत्र
• Form: Adverb (relative); indeclinable

• धर्मः: dharma, righteousness
• धर्मः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: धर्म
• Form: Masculine; nominative; singular

• अधर्मेण: by/with adharma, unrighteousness
• अधर्मेण: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: अधर्म
• Form: Masculine; instrumental; singular

• सत्यम्: truth
• सत्यम्: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: सत्य
• Form: Neuter; nominative; singular

• यत्र: where
• यत्र: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यत्र
• Form: Adverb (relative); indeclinable

• अनृतेन: by/with untruth, falsehood
• अनृतेन: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: अनृत
• Form: Neuter; instrumental; singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च
• Form: Conjunction; indeclinable

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśaṃpāyana

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights a moral inversion: when righteousness is defeated by unrighteousness and truth is replaced by falsehood, society and governance enter a state of ethical collapse. It serves as a diagnostic marker of adharma prevailing.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Udyoga Parva’s pre-war context, Vaiśaṃpāyana describes conditions in which moral order has been subverted—an atmosphere of injustice and deceit that frames the inevitability of conflict and the urgency of restoring dharma.