Shloka 46

मृदु-तीक्ष्ण-नीति तथा दुष्टलक्षण-विज्ञानम्

Measured Policy and the Recognition of Malicious Disposition

Devanagari script

ब॒हस्पतिरुवाच परोक्षमगुणानाह सदगुणानभ्यसूयते । परैर्वा कीर्त्यमानेषु तृष्णीमास्ते पराड्मुख:

Transliteration

bṛhaspatir uvāca parokṣam aguṇān āha sadguṇān abhyasūyate | parair vā kīrtyamāneṣu tṛṣṇīm āste parāṅmukhaḥ ||

Translation

ബൃഹസ്പതി പറഞ്ഞു—ദേവരാജാ! ഒരാളുടെ പുറകിൽ അവന്റെ ദോഷങ്ങൾ മാത്രമേ പറയൂ, അവന്റെ യഥാർത്ഥ സദ്ഗുണങ്ങളിലും കുറ്റം കണ്ടെത്തും, മറ്റുള്ളവർ ആ ഗുണങ്ങളെ പുകഴ്ത്തുമ്പോൾ മുഖം തിരിച്ച് മൗനമായി ഇരിക്കും—അവനെയാണ് ദുഷ്ടൻ എന്നു കരുതേണ്ടത്.

Word by Word

• {'bṛhaspatiḥ': 'Bṛhaspati (preceptor of the gods)', 'uvāca': 'said', 'parokṣam': 'in one’s absence

• behind one’s back', 'aguṇān': 'faults

• bad qualities', 'āha': 'speaks

• says', 'sadguṇān': 'good qualities

• virtues', 'abhyasūyate': 'carps at

• imputes faults', 'paraiḥ': 'by others', 'vā': 'or

• and', 'kīrtyamāneṣu': 'when being praised/celebrated (locative absolute sense)', 'tṛṣṇīm': 'silently', 'āste': 'sits

• remains', 'parāṅmukhaḥ': 'turning away

• indifferent/hostile', 'duṣṭaḥ (implied)': 'wicked

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bṛhaspati

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

A person’s moral corruption is shown by three signs: speaking of others’ faults in their absence, fault-finding even with genuine virtues, and refusing to acknowledge goodness when others praise it—silence and turning away here indicate envy and hostility to virtue.

What is happening in the narrative?

Within Bhīṣma’s discourse in Śānti Parva, a saying attributed to Bṛhaspati is cited as an ethical maxim, defining the behavior by which a ‘duṣṭa’ (wicked person) can be recognized—especially through how they speak about others’ qualities.