Shloka 116

Devanagari script

प्रमाणं प्राणनिलय: प्राणभृत्‌ प्राणजीवन: । तत्त्वं तत्त्वविदेकात्मा जन्ममृत्युजरातिग:,९५९ प्रमाणम्‌-स्वतःसिद्ध होनेसे स्वयं प्रमाणस्वरूप, ९६० प्राणनिलय:-प्राणोंके आधारभूत, ९६१ प्राणभृत्‌-समस्त प्राणोंका पोषण करनेवाले, ९६२ प्राणजीवन:- प्राणवायुके संचारसे प्राणियोंको जीवित रखनेवाले, ९६३ तत्त्वम्‌-यथार्थ तत्त्वरूप, ९६४ तत्त्ववित्‌-यथार्थ तत्त्वको पूर्णतया जाननेवाले, ९६५ एकात्मा-अद्वितीयस्वरूप, ९६६ जन्ममृत्युजरातिग:-जन्म, मृत्यु और बुढ़ापा आदि शरीरके थधर्मोंसे सर्वथा अतीत

Transliteration

bhīṣma uvāca | pramāṇaṁ prāṇanilayaḥ prāṇabhṛt prāṇajīvanaḥ | tattvaṁ tattvavidekātmā janmamṛtyujarātigaḥ ||

Translation

Bhīṣma berkata: Dialah ukuran dan kewibawaan kebenaran yang terbukti dengan sendirinya; tempat bernaungnya nafas hayat; pemelihara segala daya hidup; yang mengekalkan makhluk hidup melalui gerak prāṇa. Dialah Hakikat itu sendiri, yang mengetahui Hakikat, Yang Esa tanpa kedua, dan sepenuhnya melampaui keadaan jasmani—kelahiran, kematian, dan usia tua.

Word by Word

प्रमाणम्the (self-valid) authority/standard of knowledge

प्राणनिलयःabode/support of the vital breaths

प्राणभृत्sustainer/nourisher of the vital breaths

प्राणजीवनःlife (source) of beings through prāṇa

तत्त्वम्reality/true principle

तत्त्ववित्knower of reality

एकात्माone-souled; non-dual self

जन्ममृत्युजरातिगःone who has transcended birth, death, and old age

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

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?

The verse praises the Supreme principle as self-validating truth, the foundation and sustainer of life-breath, identical with ultimate Reality, and non-dual—transcending the bodily cycle of birth, death, and aging. Ethically, it redirects attention from transient bodily states to the imperishable ground of life and knowledge.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma continues his instruction by describing the divine/ultimate reality through a litany of epithets. This verse functions as a devotional-philosophical characterization of the Supreme as the support of prāṇa and as beyond mortality.