Shloka 16
Saṃsāra-Gahana Allegory: The Brāhmaṇa in the Forest and Well (संसारगहन-आख्यान)
तस्य चापि प्रशाखासु वृक्षशाखावलम्बिन: । नानारूपा मधुकरा घोररूपा भयावहा:
tasya cāpi praśākhāsu vṛkṣaśākhāvalambinaḥ | nānārūpā madhukarā ghorarūpā bhayāvahāḥ ||
And on the offshoot branches of that tree as well, clinging to its boughs, there are bees of many kinds—terrible in form and bringing fear. In Vidura’s moral imagery, these swarming, frightening creatures suggest the anxieties and dangers that gather around a life entangled in worldly attachments and wrongdoing, making the path of the deluded ever more perilous.
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Vidura continues an ethical allegory: when one is caught in the ‘tree’ of worldly entanglement, additional dangers accumulate around it. The frightening ‘bees’ symbolize the many anxieties, threats, and painful consequences that cling to a life driven by error and attachment, intensifying fear and suffering.
Vidura is speaking and describing an image: on the subsidiary branches of a tree, bees of many kinds hang and swarm, appearing dreadful and fear-inducing. The verse functions as part of a larger figurative description meant to warn about perilous conditions surrounding a misguided course of life.