Shloka 6

महाभिष-गङ्गा-दर्शनं वसूनां शापकथनं च

Mahābhiṣa Encounters Gaṅgā; The Vasus Explain Their Curse

Devanagari script

अष्टक उवाच यदा तु तान्‌ वितुदन्ते वयांसि तथा गृथ्रा: शितिकण्ठा: पतज्जभा: । कथं भवन्ति कथमाभवन्ति न भौममन्यं नरकं॑ शृणोमि,अष्टकने पूछा--जब मनुष्योंको मृत्युके पश्चात्‌ पक्षी, गीध, नीलकण्ठ और पतंग ये नोच-नोचकर खा लेते हैं, तब वे कैसे और किस रूपमें उत्पन्न होते हैं? मैंने अबतक भौम नामक किसी दूसरे नरकका नाम नहीं सुना था

Transliteration

Aṣṭaka uvāca: yadā tu tān vitudante vayāṁsi tathā gṛdhrāḥ śitikaṇṭhāḥ patajjabhāḥ | kathaṁ bhavanti katham ābhavanti na bhaumam anyaṁ narakaṁ śṛṇomi ||

Translation

Aṣṭaka said: “When, after death, birds—vultures, the blue-necked birds, and other winged creatures—tear at them and feed upon them, how do those beings come to be again, and in what manner are they reborn? I have never before heard of any other hell called ‘Bhauma.’”

Word by Word

• {'yadā': 'when', 'tu': 'but/indeed', 'tān': 'them (those persons)', 'vitudante': 'they pierce, peck, tear at', 'vayāṁsi': 'birds', 'tathā': 'likewise/and also', 'gṛdhrāḥ': 'vultures', 'śitikaṇṭhāḥ': 'blue-necked birds (lit. ‘blue-throated/blue-necked’)', 'patajjabhāḥ': 'winged creatures/birds (lit. ‘those whose birth is in flying’)', 'katham': 'how?', 'bhavanti': 'do they become/come to be?', 'ābhavanti': 'do they come into existence again, are they reborn', 'na': 'not', 'bhaumam': 'Bhauma (name of a hell

• lit. ‘earthly’)', 'anyam': 'another', 'narakam': 'hell', 'śṛṇomi': 'I hear/I have heard'}

Speaker

अष्टक उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Aṣṭaka
• vayāṁsi (birds)
• gṛdhra (vultures)
• śitikaṇṭha (blue-necked birds)
• patajjabha (winged creatures)
• Bhauma-naraka (hell named Bhauma)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames an ethical inquiry into karma and post-mortem consequences: suffering in naraka is not the end-point, and Aṣṭaka seeks to understand the mechanism of re-embodiment (how beings ‘become again’) and the classification of hells (here, ‘Bhauma’).

What is happening in the narrative?

Aṣṭaka, in a dialogue about the fate of beings after death, asks how those tormented—described vividly as being torn by birds and vultures—can be reborn afterward, and he expresses surprise at hearing of a hell called Bhauma, which he had not known before.