Shloka 8

Vyādha–Brāhmaṇa Saṃvāda: Śāpa, Vṛtta-Dharma, and Counsel Against Viṣāda

Grief

Devanagari script

मातापित्रोश्व शुश्रूषा स्त्रीणां भर्तरि च द्विज । स्त्रीणां धर्मात्‌ सुघोराद्धि नान्‍्यं पश्यामि दुष्करम्‌,“ब्रह्मन! पुत्रोंद्वारा माता-पिताकी सेवा तथा स्त्रियोंद्वारा की हुई पतिकी सेवा बहुत कठिन है। स्त्रियोंक इस कठोर धर्मसे बढ़कर और कोई दुष्कर कार्य मुझे नहीं दिखायी देता है

Transliteration

vaiśampāyana uvāca |

mātāpitror hi śuśrūṣā strīṇāṁ bhartari ca dvija |

strīṇāṁ dharmāt sughorād dhi nānyaṁ paśyāmi duṣkaram ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “O brāhmaṇa, service and attentive care rendered to one’s mother and father—likewise a wife’s devoted service to her husband—are indeed arduous. I see no task more difficult than this severe duty that falls upon women.”

Word by Word

• {'vaiśampāyana uvāca': 'Vaiśampāyana said', 'mātāpitror': 'of mother and father (dual genitive)', 'hi': 'indeed, surely', 'śuśrūṣā': 'service, attentive attendance, devoted care', 'strīṇām': 'of women', 'bhartari': 'in/unto the husband

• toward the husband (locative)', 'ca': 'and', 'dvija': 'O twice-born

• a brāhmaṇa (vocative address)', 'dharma': 'duty, righteous obligation, normative conduct', 'sughorāt': "very terrible/harsh/severe (ablative: 'than the very severe')", 'dhi': 'indeed (emphatic particle)', 'nānyam': 'no other', 'paśyāmi': 'I see, I perceive', 'duṣkaram': 'difficult to do

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• dvija (a brāhmaṇa addressee)
• mother
• father
• women
• husband