Shloka 12

Adhyāya 115: On Restraint Under Verbal Provocation in the Assembly (सभायां आक्रोश-सहिष्णुता)

Devanagari script

प्रत्यक्ष गुणवादी यः परोक्षे चापि निन्दक: । स मानव: श्ववल्लोके नष्टलोकपरावर:,जो सामने आकर गुण गाता है और परोक्षमें निन्दा करता है, वह मनुष्य संसारमें कुत्तेके सामन है। उसके लोक और परलोक दोनों नष्ट हो जाते हैं

Transliteration

pratyakṣa-guṇavādī yaḥ parokṣe cāpi nindakaḥ | sa mānavaḥ śva-valloke naṣṭa-loka-parāvaraḥ ||

Translation

മുഖാമുഖം ഗുണങ്ങൾ പുകഴ്ത്തി, പിന്നിൽ നിന്ദിക്കുന്നവൻ ഈ ലോകത്തിൽ നായയെപ്പോലെയാണ്; അവന്റെ ഇഹലോകവും പരലോകവും രണ്ടും നശിക്കുന്നു।

Word by Word

प्रत्यक्षopenly, in presence

गुणवादीone who speaks praise (speaker of virtues)

यःwho

परोक्षेin absence, behind (one's back)

चand

अपिalso, even

निन्दकःa reviler, critic

सःhe

मानवःman, human

श्ववत्like a dog

लोकेin the world

नष्टruined, destroyed

लोकworld (state/realm)

परावरःhaving (both) the higher and the lower (i.e., this world and the next)

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

śvan (dog)

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?

Bhīṣma condemns duplicity in speech: praising someone to their face while slandering them in their absence is morally degrading and leads to loss of well-being in both this life and the next.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and right conduct, Bhīṣma advises on ethical speech, warning Yudhiṣṭhira against hypocrisy and backbiting by comparing such a person to a dog and stating the spiritual and social consequences.