Shloka 171
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
न पाणिथ्यां न बाहुभ्यां पादोरुभ्यां न चानघ । न गात्रावयवैरन्यै: स्पृशामि त्वां नराधिप
na pāṇibhyāṁ na bāhubhyāṁ pādorubhyāṁ na cānagha | na gātrāvayavair anyaiḥ spṛśāmi tvāṁ narādhipa || niṣpāpa nareśa ||
Bhīṣma berkata: “Wahai raja yang tidak bercela, aku tidak menyentuhmu dengan tanganku, tidak dengan lenganku, tidak dengan kaki atau pahaku, dan tidak pula dengan anggota tubuhku yang lain. Wahai pemerintah yang suci daripada dosa!”
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse emphasizes bodily restraint and ethical propriety: even physical contact can be governed by dharma, and a speaker may explicitly affirm non-contact to maintain purity, respect, or a vow-bound boundary in a royal-ethical context.
Bhīṣma addresses a king with honorifics (“blameless,” “sinless”) and declares that he is not touching him with any part of his body—hands, arms, feet, thighs, or any other limbs—marking a deliberate stance of non-contact within the ongoing instruction and moral discourse of the Śānti Parva.