Shloka 45

Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 34 — Vidura’s Counsel on Deliberation, Speech-Discipline, and Dharmic Kingship

Devanagari script

मानाग्निहोत्रमुत मानमौनं मानेनाधीतमुत मानयज्ञ: । एतानि चत्वार्यभयंकराणि भयं प्रयच्छन्त्ययथाकृतानि,आदरके साथ अमन्निहोत्र, आदरपूर्वक मौनका पालन, आदरपूर्वक स्वाध्याय और आदरके साथ यज्ञका अनुष्ठान--ये चार कर्म भयको दूर करनेवाले हैं; किंतु वे ही यदि ठीक तरहसे सम्पादित न हों तो भय प्रदान करनेवाले होते हैं

Transliteration

mānāgnihotram uta mānamaunaṃ mānenādhītam uta mānayajñaḥ | etāni catvāry abhayāṅkarāṇi bhayaṃ prayacchanty ayathākṛtāni ||

Translation

വിദുരൻ പറഞ്ഞു—ആദരത്തോടെ അഗ്നിഹോത്രം, ആദരത്തോടെ മൗനം, ആദരത്തോടെ സ്വാധ്യായം, ആദരത്തോടെ യജ്ഞം—ഇവ നാലും ഭയനാശകങ്ങൾ; എന്നാൽ യഥാവിധി ചെയ്യാതിരുന്നാൽ അവ തന്നെയാണ് ഭയം നൽകുന്നത്.

Word by Word

{'māna''reverence, due regard

also a sense of honor/dignity (hererespectful, proper attitude)', 'agnihotram': 'Agnihotra

the Vedic fire-offering/household oblation', 'maunam''silence

vow of silence, restraint of speech', 'adhītam''what is studied/recited

Vedic study, svādhyāya', 'yajñaḥ''sacrifice

ritual offering, sacred rite', 'etāni''these', 'catvāri': 'four', 'abhayāṅkarāṇi': 'fear-removing, producing fearlessness', 'bhayam': 'fear, danger, anxiety', 'prayacchanti': 'they give, bestow, produce', 'ayathākṛtāni': 'done improperly

Speaker

विदुर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vidura

Agnihotra

Mauna

Adhyayana (Svadhyaya)

Yajna

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Practices that are meant to protect and purify—ritual fire-offering, disciplined silence, sacred study, and sacrifice—remove fear only when performed correctly and with proper reverence; done wrongly or mechanically, they become spiritually and socially harmful and thus generate fear.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Udyoga Parva, Vidura is instructing and warning about dharma and right conduct during a tense pre-war context; he emphasizes that even revered religious disciplines can backfire if performed without correctness and the right inner disposition.