Shloka 59

Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)

Devanagari script

ये च दुष्कृतकर्माण: पूय॑ं तेषां विधीयते । एवं नदी महाराज सर्वकामप्रदा हि सा,महाराज! इस प्रकार वह नदी सम्पूर्ण कामनाओंको देनेवाली है; किंतु जो पापी जीव हैं उनके लिये उस नदीका जल पीब बन जाता है

Transliteration

ye ca duṣkṛtakarmāṇaḥ pūyaṃ teṣāṃ vidhīyate | evaṃ nadī mahārāja sarvakāmapradā hi sā ||

Translation

ヴァイシャンパーヤナは語った。「だが悪しき業をなす者には、その同じ水が膿となるよう定められている。ゆえに大王よ、その河はあらゆる願いを授けるものではあるが、罪ある者にとっては不浄のものへと変ずるのだ。」

Word by Word

येwho (those)

चand

दुष्कृतकर्माणःevil-doers / those of sinful deeds

पूयंpus, foul matter

तेषाम्of them / for them

विधीयतेis ordained / becomes / is made

एवम्thus, in this way

नदीthe river

महाराजO great king

सर्वकामप्रदाgranting all desires

हिindeed, for

साshe/that (river)

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Mahārāja (the king being addressed)

nadī (the river)

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 the fruit of an object or experience depends on one’s karma and moral condition: what is beneficent and wish-fulfilling for the righteous can become repulsive and harmful for the sinful. Ethical conduct shapes how the world is encountered and what it yields.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana continues a description to the king, explaining the extraordinary nature of a certain river: it is famed as a bestower of all desired things, yet for those burdened with evil deeds its water is transformed into pus—highlighting a moral differentiation in the river’s effects.