Shloka 32

Pitṛ-śrāddha-haviḥ-phala-nirdeśa

Offerings for Ancestors and Their Stated Results

Devanagari script

बिलवासं गतांश्रैव निराहारानचेतस: । गतासूनपि संशुष्कान्‌ भूमि: संधारयिष्यति

Transliteration

bilavāsaṃ gatāṃś caiva nirāhārān acetasaḥ | gatāsūn api saṃśuṣkān bhūmiḥ saṃdhārayiṣyati ||

Translation

ഭീഷ്മൻ പറഞ്ഞു—കുഴികളിലും ഗുഹകളിലും ചെന്നു വസിക്കുന്നവരെയും, ആഹാരമില്ലാതെ ചേതനരഹിതരായവരെയും—അതെ, പ്രാണം വിട്ട് ഉണങ്ങി പോയ ദേഹങ്ങളെയും—ഈ ഭൂമി ഇപ്പോഴും ധരിച്ചു നിൽക്കുന്നു.

Word by Word

बिलवासम्dwelling in a hole/cave (burrow-abode)

गतान्gone, having gone

चand

एवindeed, just

निराहारान्without food, fasting

अचेतसःunconscious, senseless

गतासून्lifeless (whose life has gone)

अपिeven, also

संशुष्कान्completely dried up

भूमिःthe earth, ground

संधारयिष्यतिwill support, will bear up

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

bhūmi (Earth)

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 stresses impermanence and non-attachment: even lifeless, dried bodies are borne by the earth, so one should not treat the body or mere physical endurance as the ultimate aim; instead, one should pursue dharma and inner clarity.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma, in his instruction to the listener in the Anuśāsana Parva, uses a stark image—ascetics or abandoned beings in caves, starving and senseless, even dead—to underline how the world continues regardless, reinforcing a teaching on renunciation and right priorities.