Shloka 536
Saṃsāra-Gahana Allegory: The Brāhmaṇa in the Forest and Well (संसारगहन-आख्यान)
अभ्युच्छयश्न रोग्णां वै विक्रियाश्व॒ परंतप । शत्रुदमन नरेश! वह स्थान देखकर ब्राह्मणका हृदय अत्यन्त उद्विग्न हो उठा। उसे रोमांच हो आया और मनमें अन्य प्रकारके भी विकार उत्पन्न होने लगे
abhyucchayaś ca rogṇāṁ vai vikriyāś ca parantapa | śatrudamana nareśa! tat sthānaṁ dṛṣṭvā brāhmaṇasya hṛdayam atyantaṁ udvignaṁ babhūva | tasya romāñcaḥ samajāyata manasi cānyaprakārā api vikārā utpannāḥ |
Vidura said: “O Parantapa, O enemy-tamer, O king—on seeing that place, the Brahmin’s heart became deeply shaken. His hair stood on end, and within his mind other disturbing changes also arose.”
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical and emotional weight of witnessing the consequences of violence: a sensitive, dharma-minded person is inwardly shaken, showing that moral awareness naturally responds with compassion and distress to scenes of suffering.
Vidura describes to the king how a Brahmin, upon seeing a particular place (implied to be connected with calamity and suffering in the war’s aftermath), becomes intensely agitated—experiencing horripilation and other mental disturbances.