Shloka 473

ब्राह्मणस्य पूर्वतरा वृत्तिः — The Earlier Ideal Conduct of a Brahmana

River-of-Saṃsāra Metaphor

Devanagari script

त्वत्तो बहुतराश्चान्ये भविष्यन्ति पुरंदर । पुरंदर! अबतक इसने जितने राजाओंका परित्याग किया है, उनकी गणना मैं नहीं कर सकता। तुम्हारे बाद भी बहुत-से नरेश इसके अधिकारी होंगे

Transliteration

tvattō bahutarāś cānye bhaviṣyanti puraṃdara |

Translation

ഭീഷ്മൻ പറഞ്ഞു— ഹേ പുരന്ദരാ! നിനക്കു ശേഷം ഇതിലും കൂടുതലായി അനേകർ ഇതിന്റെ അധികാരം കൈവരിക്കും. ഈ രാജലക്ഷ്മി ഇതുവരെ എത്ര രാജാക്കളെ ഉപേക്ഷിച്ചുവെന്ന് ഞാൻ എണ്ണാൻ കഴിയില്ല; നിനക്കു ശേഷവും അനേകം നരേശന്മാർ ഇതിന്റെ യഥാർത്ഥ അവകാശികളാകും.

Word by Word

• त्वत्तः: from you / after you
• त्वत्तः: Apadana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: त्वद्
• Form: —, Ablative, Singular

• बहुतराः: more numerous / many more
• बहुतराः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: बहुतर
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• अन्ये: others
• अन्ये: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अन्य
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• भविष्यन्ति: will be / will become
• Type: Verb
• Root: भू
• Form: Simple Future (Luṭ), 3rd, Plural, Parasmaipada

• पुरंदर: O Purandara (Indra)
• Type: Noun (proper epithet/vocative)
• Root: पुरंदर
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Purandara (Indra)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhīṣma underscores the impermanence of royal power and fortune: sovereignty does not belong permanently to any one ruler. This perspective encourages humility, restraint, and dharmic governance, since authority is transient and will pass to others.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma addresses ‘Purandara’ (Indra) to illustrate how kingship/royal fortune repeatedly shifts from one ruler to another. He remarks that countless kings have already been abandoned by it, and that many more will hold it after the one being addressed—emphasizing the cyclical, unstable nature of political power.