Shloka 26

पञ्चवर्णोत्पत्तिः — The Origin of the Five-Colored Fiery Being and Ritual-Disruptor Lineages

Devanagari script

व्याध उवाच न जीवनाशो<स्ति हि देहभेदे मिथ्यैतदाहुर्ग्नियते किलेति । जीवस्तु देहान्तरित: प्रयाति दशार्धतैवास्यथ शरीरभेद:,धर्मव्याधने कहा--ब्रह्मन! देहका नाश होनेपर जीवका नाश नहीं होता। मनुष्योंका यह कथन कि “जीव मरता है” मिथ्या ही है, किंतु जीव तो इस शरीरको छोड़कर दूसरे शरीरमें चला जाता है। शरीरके पाँचों तत्त्वोंका पृथक्‌ू-पृथक्‌ पाँच भूतोंमें मिल जाना ही उसका नाश कहलाता है

Transliteration

vyādha uvāca | na jīvanāśo 'sti hi dehabhede mithyaitad āhur mriyate kileti | jīvas tu dehāntaritaḥ prayāti daśārdhataivāsyatha śarīrabhedaḥ |

Translation

The Hunter said: “There is truly no destruction of the living self when the body is broken up. People speak falsely when they say, ‘It dies.’ Rather, the jīva departs from this body and goes on into another body. What is called the ‘death’ of the body is only its dissolution—its constituent elements separating and returning to their respective elemental sources.”

Word by Word

व्याधःthe hunter

उवाचsaid

नnot

जीवनाशःdestruction of life

अस्तिis

हिindeed

देहभेदेin the separation/destruction of the body

मिथ्याfalsely

एतत्this

आहुःthey say

ज्ञायतेis known/understood

किलindeed/it is said

इतिthus

जीवःthe living self

तुbut

देहात्from the body

अन्तरितःhaving departed/removed (from it)

प्रयातिgoes forth

देहान्तरम्another body

इवas if/like

अस्यof this (body/person)

अथthen/and

शरीरभेदःthe breaking up of the body

Speaker

व्याध उवाच

Characters & Entities

Dharma-vyādha (the hunter)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that death is not the annihilation of the jīva; only the body disintegrates. The living self continues and moves on to another embodiment, while the body’s elements separate and return to their elemental sources.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the dialogue of the Dharma-vyādha, the hunter instructs a Brahmin/ascetic on right understanding: he corrects the common notion that the self dies, explaining instead the continuity of the jīva and the merely physical nature of bodily death.