Shloka 30

Śaraṇāgata-Atithi-Dharma in the Kapota Narrative (कपोत-आख्यानम्—शरणागतधर्मः)

Devanagari script

मृतचैलपरिस्तीर्ण निर्माल्यकृत भूषणम्‌ । सर्पनिर्मोकमालाभि: कृतचिह्लकुटीमठम्‌

Transliteration

mṛtacailaparistīrṇaṃ nirmālyakṛta-bhūṣaṇam | sarpanirmokamālābhiḥ kṛtacihna-kuṭīmaṭham ||

Translation

ਭੀਸ਼ਮ ਨੇ ਆਖਿਆ—ਮੁਰਦਿਆਂ ਦੇ ਸਰੀਰਾਂ ਤੋਂ ਉਤਾਰੇ ਕੱਪੜੇ ਉੱਥੇ ਚਾਰੋਂ ਪਾਸੇ ਵਿਛੇ ਹੋਏ ਸਨ; ਉਤਾਰੀ ਹੋਈਆਂ ਫੁੱਲਾਂ ਦੀਆਂ ਮਾਲਾਵਾਂ ਤੋਂ ਗਹਿਣੇ ਬਣਾਏ ਗਏ ਸਨ; ਅਤੇ ਚਾਂਡਾਲਾਂ ਦੀਆਂ ਝੋਂਪੜੀਆਂ ਤੇ ਮਠ ਸੱਪਾਂ ਦੀ ਉਤਰੀ ਹੋਈ ਕੈਂਚਲੀ ਦੀਆਂ ਮਾਲਾਵਾਂ ਨਾਲ ਨਿਸ਼ਾਨਬੱਧ ਤੇ ਸਜੇ ਹੋਏ ਸਨ।

Word by Word

• मृतचैलपरिस्तीर्णम्: spread with dead-clothes (cast-off garments)
• मृतचैलपरिस्तीर्णम्: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: मृतचैल-परिस्तीर्ण
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• निर्माल्यकृतभूषणम्: having ornaments made of discarded garlands
• निर्माल्यकृतभूषणम्: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: निर्माल्य-कृत-भूषण
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• सर्पनिर्मोकमालाभिः: with garlands of snake-sloughs
• सर्पनिर्मोकमालाभिः: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: सर्प-निर्मोक-माला
• Form: Feminine, Instrumental, Plural

• कृतचिह्नकुटीमठम्: whose huts and monasteries were marked (with signs)
• कृतचिह्नकुटीमठम्: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: कृत-चिह्न-कुटी-मठ
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• mṛtacaila (cloths of the dead)
• nirmālya (discarded garlands)
• sarpa-nirmoka (snake sloughs)
• mālā (garlands)
• kuṭī (huts)
• maṭha (monastic dwellings)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse uses stark imagery—dead-cloths, discarded garlands, and snake-slough garlands—to show how social and moral disorder can normalize what is ordinarily rejected. It functions as an ethical critique: when dharma declines, signs of impurity and exclusion become public ‘ornaments,’ revealing a society that has inverted values and lost proper discernment.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma is describing a scene where dwellings are decorated not with auspicious items but with objects associated with death, refuse, and pollution: cloths taken from corpses are spread about, ornaments are made from used garlands, and huts/maṭhas are marked with garlands of shed snake-skins.