Shloka 88

Devanagari script

अशुभस्य चतुर्थाशस्त्रीनंशाननुवर्तते | कृष्टपच्यैव पृथिवी भवन्त्योषधयस्तथा,जब राजा दण्डनीतिके एक चौथाई अंशको छोड़कर केवल तीन अंशोंका अनुसरण करता है, तब त्रेतायुग प्रारम्भ हो जाता है। उस समय अशुभका चौथा अंश पुण्यके तीन अंशोंके पीछे लगा रहता है। उस अवस्थामें पृथ्वीपर जोतने-बोनेसे ही अन्न पैदा होता है। ओषधियाँ भी उसी तरह पैदा होती हैं

Transliteration

aśubhasya caturthāṃśas trīn aṃśān anuvartate | kṛṣṭapacyāiva pṛthivī bhavanty oṣadhayas tathā ||

Translation

അവസ്ഥയിൽ അശുഭത്തിന്റെ നാലാം അംശം പുണ്യത്തിന്റെ മൂന്നു അംശങ്ങളെ പിന്തുടരുന്നു. അപ്പോൾ ഭൂമി ഉഴുതി വിതച്ചാൽ മാത്രമേ ധാന്യം നൽകൂ; ഔഷധികളും അതുപോലെ തന്നെ ഉദ്ഭവിക്കും.

Word by Word

अशुभस्यof inauspiciousness/evil

चand

चतुर्थःthe fourth part

अंशःportion/share

त्रीन्three

अंशान्parts/shares

अनुवर्ततेfollows/keeps to

कृष्टपच्याby ploughing-and-sowing (i.e., by cultivation)

एवindeed/only

पृथिवीthe earth

भवन्तिcome to be/arise

ओषधयःplants/herbs

तथाso/likewise

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

Pṛthivī (Earth)

Oṣadhayaḥ (medicinal herbs)

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?

Moral and social conditions are linked to righteous governance and the balance of merit and demerit: as inauspiciousness increases (even as a subordinate ‘fourth part’), nature’s spontaneous abundance diminishes and human society must rely more on disciplined effort (cultivation), reflecting a step down from a higher yuga.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhishma’s instruction on dharma and royal policy (daṇḍanīti), he describes a yuga-transition scenario: when the world’s moral balance shifts so that a portion of ‘aśubha’ trails the dominant ‘good,’ the age resembles the onset of Tretā, marked by the earth producing crops and herbs only through ploughing and sowing.