Śaraṇāgata-Atithi-Dharma in the Kapota Narrative (कपोत-आख्यानम्—शरणागतधर्मः)
न ववर्ष सहस्राक्ष: प्रतिलोमो5भवद् गुरु: । जगाम दक्षिण मार्ग सोमो व्यावृत्तलक्षण:
na vavarṣa sahasrākṣaḥ pratilomo 'bhavad guruḥ | jagāma dakṣiṇa-mārgaṃ somo vyāvṛtta-lakṣaṇaḥ ||
ਸਹਸ੍ਰਾਕ੍ਸ਼ ਇੰਦਰ ਨੇ ਵਰਖਾ ਨਹੀਂ ਕੀਤੀ; ਗੁਰੂ (ਬ੍ਰਿਹਸਪਤੀ) ਪ੍ਰਤਿਲੋਮ (ਵਕਰੀ) ਗਤੀ ਵਿੱਚ ਹੋ ਗਿਆ; ਅਤੇ ਵਿਗੜੇ ਲੱਛਣਾਂ ਵਾਲਾ ਸੋਮ (ਚੰਦਰਮਾ) ਦੱਖਣੀ ਮਾਰਗ ਨੂੰ ਚਲ ਪਿਆ।
भीष्म उवाच
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.