Shloka 13

आपद्धर्मे राज्ञः नीतिः — Bharadvāja’s Counsel on Crisis-Statecraft (Śānti Parva 138)

Devanagari script

विलोड्यमाने तस्मिंस्तु खुततोये जलाशये । अगच्छद्‌ बन्धन तत्र दीर्घसूत्र: सहापरैः,जिसका पानी बाहर निकल चुका था, वह जलाशय जब मथा जाने लगा, तब दीर्घ॑सूत्री भी दूसरे मत्स्योंके साथ जालमें फँस गया

Transliteration

viloḍyamāne tasmiṃs tu khutatoye jalāśaye | agacchad bandhanaṃ tatra dīrghasūtraḥ sahāparaiḥ ||

Translation

വെള്ളം പുറത്തേക്ക് ഒഴുകിപ്പോയ ആ ജലാശയം കലക്കി മഥിക്കപ്പെടുമ്പോൾ, ദീർഘസൂത്രിയും മറ്റു മീനുകളോടൊപ്പം അവിടെ വലയിൽ കുടുങ്ങി ബന്ധനത്തിലായി.

Word by Word

विलोड्यमानेwhen (it was) being churned/stirred

तस्मिन्in that

तुbut/indeed

खुततोयेin (the reservoir) whose water had flowed out/been drained

जलाशयेin the pond/reservoir

अगच्छत्went/came (to)

बन्धनम्the net/bondage (trap)

तत्रthere

दीर्घसूत्रःDīrghasūtra (the long-procrastinating one; name of a fish)

सहtogether with

अपरैःwith others

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

Dīrghasūtra

jalāśaya (pond/reservoir)

bandhana (bondage/capture)

matsyāḥ (other fish, implied by sahāparaiḥ)

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?

One should act with timely discernment: when danger-signs are evident (the pond already drained), delaying action leads to bondage. Procrastination turns a manageable risk into inevitable capture.

What is happening in the narrative?

A pond whose water has already been removed is then churned/dragged (as by fishermen). In that disturbance, the fish named Dīrghasūtra, along with others, gets caught in the net and falls into captivity.