Shloka 7

Devanagari script

यश: सत्यं दम: शौचमार्जवं ह्वीरचापलम्‌ | दानं तपो ब्रह्मचर्यमित्येतास्तनवो मम,यश, सत्य, दम, शौच, सरलता, लज्जा, अचंचलता, दान, तप और ब्रह्मचर्य--ये सब मेरे शरीर हैं

Transliteration

yaśaḥ satyaṁ damaḥ śaucam ārjavaṁ hrīr acāpalam | dānaṁ tapo brahmacaryam ity etās tanavo mama ||

Translation

Yakṣa berkata: “Kemasyhuran, kebenaran, pengendalian diri, kesucian, kelurusan, rasa malu dan keteguhan; serta kemurahan hati, tapa dan disiplin brahmacarya—semuanya itulah anggota tubuhku.”

Word by Word

यशःfame, glory

सत्यम्truth

दमःself-control

शौचम्purity, cleanliness

आर्जवम्straightforwardness, rectitude

ह्रीःmodesty, shame (sense of propriety)

अचापलम्steadiness, absence of fickleness

दानम्giving, charity

तपःausterity, penance

ब्रह्मचर्यम्celibacy, religious student-discipline

इतिthus

एताःthese

तनवःbodies, forms

ममof me, my

Speaker

यक्ष उवाच

Characters & Entities

Yakṣa

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 teaches that the highest identity is ethical: truth, self-control, purity, straightforwardness, modesty, steadiness, generosity, austerity, and brahmacarya are presented as the very ‘body’ of the Yakṣa. It implies that divinity and authority are grounded in embodied virtues, not merely in appearance or power.

What is happening in the narrative?

During the Yakṣa-prashna episode in the forest, the Yakṣa questions the Pāṇḍava (Yudhiṣṭhira) and reveals principles of dharma. Here the Yakṣa describes his own ‘limbs’ as a set of virtues, framing the encounter as a moral examination where right conduct is the true mark of the divine.