Shloka 18

Saṃsāra-Gahana Allegory: The Brāhmaṇa in the Forest and Well (संसारगहन-आख्यान)

Devanagari script

तेषां मधूनां बहुधा धारा प्रस्रवते तदा

Transliteration

teṣāṃ madhūnāṃ bahudhā dhārā prasravate tadā

Translation

そのとき、それらの蜂の巣から蜜の流れが、さまざまな方角へとほとばしり出る。毗度羅の言葉においてこの譬えは、因果の報い——徳によるものであれ、罪によるものであれ——は一所に閉じこもらず、条件が整えば、豊かに、そして必然として流れ出ることを示している。

Word by Word

• तेषाम्: of those
• तेषाम्: Sambandha
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: masculine/neuter, genitive, plural

• मधूनाम्: of the honeys / sweet juices
• मधूनाम्: Sambandha
• Type: Noun
• Root: मधु
• Form: neuter, genitive, plural

• बहुधा: in many ways / abundantly
• बहुधा: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: बहुधा

• धारा: a stream / flow
• धारा: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: धारा
• Form: feminine, nominative, singular

• प्रस्रवते: flows forth / trickles out
• Type: Verb
• Root: स्रु (प्र + स्रु)
• Form: lat, present indicative, ātmanepada, 3rd, singular

• तदा: then
• तदा: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तदा

Speaker

विदुर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vidura
• honey (madhu)
• streams/flow (dhārā)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Vidura uses a natural image—honey flowing in many streams—to suggest that outcomes of causes (especially moral causes) manifest abundantly and spread beyond their point of origin; one should therefore act with foresight and restraint, knowing results can overflow and affect many.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Stree Parva’s lamentation-filled aftermath of the Kurukṣetra war, Vidura speaks in a reflective, instructive mode; this line forms part of a simile illustrating how events and their consequences unfold and spread once set in motion.