Shloka 8

Vyādha–Brāhmaṇa Saṃvāda: Śāpa, Vṛtta-Dharma, and Counsel Against Viṣāda

Grief

Devanagari script

मातापित्रोश्व शुश्रूषा स्त्रीणां भर्तरि च द्विज । स्त्रीणां धर्मात्‌ सुघोराद्धि नान्‍्यं पश्यामि दुष्करम्‌,“ब्रह्मन! पुत्रोंद्वारा माता-पिताकी सेवा तथा स्त्रियोंद्वारा की हुई पतिकी सेवा बहुत कठिन है। स्त्रियोंक इस कठोर धर्मसे बढ़कर और कोई दुष्कर कार्य मुझे नहीं दिखायी देता है

Transliteration

vaiśampāyana uvāca |

mātāpitror hi śuśrūṣā strīṇāṁ bhartari ca dvija |

strīṇāṁ dharmāt sughorād dhi nānyaṁ paśyāmi duṣkaram ||

Translation

ದ್ವಿಜನೇ! ಪುತ್ರರಿಂದ ತಾಯಿ-ತಂದೆಯರ ಸೇವೆಯೂ, ಸ್ತ್ರೀಯರಿಂದ ಭರ್ತೃಸೇವೆಯೂ ನಿಜಕ್ಕೂ ದುಷ್ಕರ. ಸ್ತ್ರೀಯರ ಈ ಅತ್ಯಂತ ಕಠೋರ ಧರ್ಮಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ದುಷ್ಕರವಾದ ಕಾರ್ಯವನ್ನು ನಾನು ಕಾಣುವುದಿಲ್ಲ.

Word by Word

• {'vaiśampāyana uvāca': 'Vaiśampāyana said', 'mātāpitror': 'of mother and father (dual genitive)', 'hi': 'indeed, surely', 'śuśrūṣā': 'service, attentive attendance, devoted care', 'strīṇām': 'of women', 'bhartari': 'in/unto the husband

• toward the husband (locative)', 'ca': 'and', 'dvija': 'O twice-born

• a brāhmaṇa (vocative address)', 'dharma': 'duty, righteous obligation, normative conduct', 'sughorāt': "very terrible/harsh/severe (ablative: 'than the very severe')", 'dhi': 'indeed (emphatic particle)', 'nānyam': 'no other', 'paśyāmi': 'I see, I perceive', 'duṣkaram': 'difficult to do

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• dvija (a brāhmaṇa addressee)
• mother
• father
• women
• husband

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights dharma as lived responsibility: devoted service to parents and, in the traditional framework, a wife’s steadfast care for her husband are portrayed as among the most demanding ethical disciplines, requiring endurance, self-control, and constancy.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana, continuing his narration, addresses a brāhmaṇa and comments on the difficulty of household duties—especially the severe obligations associated with women’s dharma—framing them as arduous moral work rather than merely social convention.