Mahabharata 9.64.38 — Shalya Parva, Adhyaya 64, Shloka 38

Devanagari script

यदि जानाति चार्वाक: परिव्राड्‌ वाग्विशारद:

Transliteration

yadi jānāti cārvākaḥ parivrāḍ vāgviśāradaḥ

Translation

संजय म्हणाला—जर वाणीमध्ये निपुण असा तो परिव्राजक चार्वाक खरोखर (हे) जाणत असेल…

Word by Word

• यदि: if
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यदि

• जानाति: knows
• Type: Verb
• Root: ज्ञा (जानाति)
• Form: Lat (present indicative), 3rd, singular, Parasmaipada

• चार्वाकः: Charvaka (name)
• चार्वाकः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: चार्वाक (proper noun)
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

• परिव्राट्: wandering mendicant; itinerant ascetic
• परिव्राट्: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: परिव्राट्
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

• वाक्: speech
• Type: Noun
• Root: वाच्
• Form: feminine, nominative, singular

• विशारदः: skilled; expert
• Type: Adjective
• Root: विशारद
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Cārvāka

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The line foregrounds the ethical danger of persuasive speech: eloquence and the outward marks of renunciation (a wandering ascetic) do not guarantee truth or dharma. It prepares the listener to judge claims by integrity and intent, not merely by rhetorical skill or appearance.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya introduces Cārvāka as a wandering, highly articulate speaker, setting up a conditional statement (“if he knows…”). In the surrounding episode, such a figure is presented as using rhetoric to influence the court’s mood and moral judgment in the tense aftermath of the Kurukṣetra war.