Shanti Parva Adhyaya 227 Shloka 52 - Mahabharata | Japanese | Vedapath

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Shloka 52

ब्राह्मणस्य पूर्वतरा वृत्तिः — The Earlier Ideal Conduct of a Brahmana

River-of-Saṃsāra Metaphor

Devanagari script

बाण: कार्तस्वरो वल्लिविश्वदंष्टो5थ नैऋति: | संकोचो<5थ वरीताक्षो वराहाश्वो रुचिप्रभ:

Transliteration

bāṇaḥ kārtasvaro valliviśvadaṃṣṭo ’tha nairṛtiḥ | saṃkoco ’tha varītākṣo varāhāśvo ruciprabhāḥ ||

Translation

ビーシュマは言った。「（これらが）名である――バーナ、カールタスヴァラ、ヴァッリ＝ヴィシュヴァダンシュタ、ナイリリティ。さらに、サンコーチャ、ヴァリータークシャ、ヴァラーハーシュヴァ、ルチプラバー。」この箇所でビーシュマは、特定の存在（あるいは呼称）を儀礼的に列挙し続け、ダルマの教示における厳密な命名の伝統を保っている。そこでは、正確な同定と名の記憶が、規律ある知と儀礼—倫理の秩序の一部と見なされる。

Word by Word

बाणःarrow; (name) Bāṇa

कार्तस्वरःKārtasvara (gold); (name) Kārtasvara

वल्लिविश्वदंष्टःValliviśvadaṃṣṭa (name; lit. 'having all-fang(s) like creepers')

अथand then; also

नैऋतिःNairṛti (name; relating to Nirṛti / the southwest)

संकोचःcontraction; (name) Saṃkoca

अथand then; also

वरीताक्षःVarītākṣa (name; lit. 'having varīta-like eyes')

वराहाश्वःVarāhāśva (name; lit. 'boar-and-horse')

रुचिप्रभःRuciprabha (name; 'splendor of radiance')

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

Bāṇa

Kārtasvara

Valli-viśvadaṃṣṭa

Nairṛti

Saṃkoca

Varītākṣa

Varāhāśva

Ruciprabhā

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse functions as part of a dharma-style transmission where exact naming and orderly listing are treated as a form of disciplined knowledge—supporting remembrance, classification, and the integrity of the tradition being taught.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma is continuing an enumerative passage, reciting a sequence of specific names/epithets. The verse is not argumentative but catalogic, preserving a received list within his instruction in the Śānti Parva.