Shloka 3

Devanagari script

अब्रवीन्मां पुरा वश्िद्‌ ब्राह्मणस्त्यागमाश्रित: । क्लिश्यमान: कुदारेण कुचैलेन बुभुक्षया,पहलेकी बात है, फटे-पुराने वस्त्रों एवं अपनी दुष्टा सत्रीके और भूखके कारण अत्यन्त कष्ट पानेवाले एक त्यागी ब्राह्मणने जिसका नाम शम्पाक था, मुझसे इस प्रकार कहा --

Transliteration

abravīn māṃ purā kaścid brāhmaṇas tyāgam āśritaḥ | kliśyamānaḥ kudāreṇa kucailena bubhukṣayā ||

Translation

ಭೀಷ್ಮನು ಹೇಳಿದನು—ಹಿಂದೆ ತ್ಯಾಗವನ್ನು ಆಶ್ರಯಿಸಿದ ಒಬ್ಬ ಬ್ರಾಹ್ಮಣನು ನನಗೆ ಹೇಳಿದ್ದನು. ಅವನು ದುಷ್ಟ ಪತ್ನಿ, ಹರಿದ ಬಟ್ಟೆ ಮತ್ತು ಹಸಿವಿನಿಂದ ಬಹಳ ಕಷ್ಟಪಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದನು।

Word by Word

अब्रवीत्said/spoke

माम्me

पुराformerly/once

वशिष्ठःVasiṣṭha

ब्राह्मणःa Brahmin

त्यागम्renunciation

आश्रितःhaving resorted to/embracing

क्लिश्यमानःbeing afflicted/suffering

कुदारेणby/with a bad wife (lit. evil spouse)

कुचैलेनby/with tattered garments

बुभुक्षयाby hunger

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

a renunciant brāhmaṇa (unnamed in the Sanskrit verse)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames a dharma-inquiry: even a person inclined to renunciation may face acute worldly distress (hunger, poverty, domestic suffering). The ethical focus is on how one should respond—through restraint, discernment, and adherence to dharma rather than collapse into anger or wrongdoing.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma begins recounting an earlier encounter: a suffering brāhmaṇa who had taken up renunciation approaches him and speaks, introducing a didactic episode meant to illuminate conduct under hardship.