Shloka 34

Bhīṣma on the Śara-Śayyā: Yudhiṣṭhira and Kṛṣṇa Approach the Eldest for Śānti

Devanagari script

प्रतिलोमप्रसूतानां वर्णानां चैव य: स्मृत:

Transliteration

pratilomaprasūtānāṃ varṇānāṃ caiva yaḥ smṛtaḥ | deśa-jāti-kula-dharmāṇāṃ lakṣaṇaṃ caiva vettha ha | vedeṣu pratipāditānāṃ śiṣṭaiś ca kathitānāṃ dharmāṇāṃ ca sadā vidvān asi ||

Translation

ヴァイシャンパーヤナは言った。「秩序に『逆らう』と見なされる結びつきから生まれた者、またそこから生じる混成の階層に定められた行いの規範についてさえ、汝は疎くない。土地・共同体・家系それぞれのダルマを分かつ標（しるし）を、汝は明らかに知っている。さらに、ヴェーダに説かれ、教養ある賢者たちの言葉と実践によって確証されたダルマにも、汝は久しく通暁している。」

Word by Word

• प्रतिलोमप्रसूतानाम्: of those born from reverse (inter-varna) unions
• प्रतिलोमप्रसूतानाम्: Sambandha
• Type: Adjective
• Root: प्रतिलोम-प्रसूता
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Genitive, Plural

• वर्णानाम्: of the varnas/classes
• वर्णानाम्: Sambandha
• Type: Noun
• Root: वर्ण
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Plural

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• एव: indeed/just
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• यः: which/that (dharma)
• यः: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: यद्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• स्मृतः: is remembered/declared (in tradition)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: स्मृ (धातु) → स्मृत (कृदन्त)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Veda
• Śiṣṭa (exemplary learned persons)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Dharma is understood through multiple authorities: Vedic teaching, Smṛti prescriptions, and the lived guidance of śiṣṭas (exemplary learned people), along with contextual duties tied to region, community, and lineage.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana emphasizes the listener’s competence in dharma-discourse, noting that the person addressed already knows even complex social-legal categories (mixed classes and ‘reverse-order’ births) and the markers of customary duties, preparing the ground for further instruction in Śānti Parva.