Shloka 16
युधिछिर उवाच शब्दे स्पर्शे च रूपे च तथैव रसगन्धयो: । तस्याधिष्ठानमव्यग्रो ब्रूहि सर्प यथातथम्,युधिष्ठिरने पूछा--सर्प! शब्द, स्पर्श, रूप, रस तथा गन्ध--इनका आधार क्या है? आप शान्तचित्त होकर इसे यथार्थरूपसे बताइये
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | śabde sparśe ca rūpe ca tathaiva rasagandhayoḥ | tasyādhiṣṭhānam avyagro brūhi sarpa yathātatham ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “O serpent, with an undistracted mind tell me truthfully, just as it really is: what is the underlying basis of sound, touch, form, and likewise of taste and smell?”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a disciplined philosophical inquiry: sense-objects (sound, touch, form, taste, smell) are not taken as ultimate; Yudhiṣṭhira asks for their adhiṣṭhāna—an underlying support—encouraging reflection on the foundations of perception and the self’s relation to sensory experience.
In the forest setting of the Vana Parva, Yudhiṣṭhira engages a serpent interlocutor in a question-and-answer exchange. Here he asks the serpent to calmly and truthfully explain the substratum or basis of the five sensory objects.