Shloka 41
कृतयुगवर्णनम् तथा राजधर्मोपदेशः
Kṛtayuga Description and Instruction on Royal Dharma
रसाश्च मनुजव्यात्र न तथा स्वादुयोगिन: । बहुप्रजा हस्वदेहा: शीलाचारविवर्जिता: । मुखे भगा: स्त्रियो राजन् भविष्यन्ति युगक्षये
rasāś ca manujavyāghra na tathā svāduyoginaḥ | bahuprājā hrasvadehāḥ śīlācāravivarjitāḥ | mukhe bhagāḥ striyo rājan bhaviṣyanti yugakṣaye ||
ヴァイシャンパーヤナは言った。「おお人中の虎よ、食物やその汁も、あるべき甘さと健やかな旨味をもはや備えぬ。時代の終わりには、王よ、女たちは背が低く、多くの子を産むが、慎みと善き行いを失う。崩壊のその時、彼女らは性の事柄を公然と、しかも絶え間なく語るであろう。」
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a moral diagnosis of yuga-decline: when dharma weakens, even basic life—food, family life, and public speech—loses refinement and restraint. It frames ethical deterioration as visible in taste, conduct (śīla–ācāra), and social discourse.
Vaiśampāyana is describing ominous characteristics of the end of an age (yugakṣaya) to a kingly listener, listing social and behavioral changes as prophetic signs of degeneration.