Shloka 18

Cavana’s Tests of Kuśika and the Queen (अध्याय ५३: च्यवन–कुशिक-परिक्षा)

Devanagari script

अभीतरूपा: संहृष्टा अन्योन्यवशवर्तिन: । बबन्धुस्तत्र मत्स्यांश्व तथान्यान्‌ जलचारिण:

Transliteration

abhītarūpāḥ saṁhṛṣṭā anyonyavaśavartinaḥ | babandhus tatra matsyāṁś ca tathānyān jalacāriṇaḥ ||

Translation

സ്വന്തം മനോഹരരൂപങ്ങളിൽ മദിച്ചും ഹർഷിതരായും അവർ പരസ്പരം ഒരാളുടെ വശത്തിൽ മറ്റൊരാൾ നീങ്ങി. അവിടെ അവർ മത്സ്യങ്ങളെയും മറ്റു ജലചരങ്ങളെയും കൂടി ബന്ധിച്ചു പിടിച്ചു.

Word by Word

अभीतरूपाःhaving fearful forms

संहृष्टाःexcited, delighted

अन्योन्यवशवर्तिनःsubject to one another's control

बबन्धुःthey bound, they tied

तत्रthere

मत्स्यान्fish

चand

तथाlikewise

अन्यान्other

जलचारिणःwater-dwellers, aquatic creatures

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

भ

भीष्म (Bhīṣma)

म

मत्स्य (fish)

ज

जलचारिणः (aquatic creatures)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse hints at an ethical caution: exhilaration and mutual attraction can become mutual domination, leading to the restraint or exploitation of others. It invites reflection on self-control (saṁyama) and the moral cost of turning living beings into objects of possession.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma describes a scene where beings—delighted and mutually swayed—proceed to bind fishes and other aquatic creatures. The imagery conveys capture and control within a setting involving water-dwelling life.