Shloka 15
Śaraṇāgata-Atithi-Dharma in the Kapota Narrative (कपोत-आख्यानम्—शरणागतधर्मः)
न ववर्ष सहस्राक्ष: प्रतिलोमो5भवद् गुरु: । जगाम दक्षिण मार्ग सोमो व्यावृत्तलक्षण:,इन्द्रने वर्षा बंद कर दी थी, बृहस्पति प्रतिलोम (वक्री) हो गया था, चन्द्रमा विकृत हो गया था और वह दक्षिण मार्गपर चला गया था
na vavarṣa sahasrākṣaḥ pratilomo 'bhavad guruḥ | jagāma dakṣiṇa-mārgaṃ somo vyāvṛtta-lakṣaṇaḥ ||
Bhīṣma berkata: “Sahasrākṣa (Indra) tidak menurunkan hujan; Guru (Bṛhaspati) bergerak pada lintasan yang berlawanan; dan Bulan, dengan tanda-tandanya terganggu, berpaling lalu menempuh jalan selatan.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses celestial and climatic anomalies as moral-symbolic indicators: when righteousness and proper governance decline, the world is perceived as losing harmony, and nature itself seems to mirror that imbalance through ominous signs.
Bhishma describes a sequence of ominous phenomena—Indra withholding rain, Bṛhaspati moving in a contrary/retrograde course, and the Moon taking a disturbed southward path—suggesting an atmosphere of inauspiciousness and disorder surrounding the events being discussed.