Shloka 40
Adhyāya 283: Varṇa-vṛtti, Nyāya-ārjana, and the Decline-and-Restoration of Dharma (वर्णवृत्तिः न्यायार्जनं च)
ऋषयो न प्रकाशन्ते न देवा न च मानुषा: । एवं तु तिमिरीभूते निर्दहन्त्यपमानिता:
ṛṣayo na prakāśante na devā na ca mānuṣāḥ | evaṃ tu timirībhūte nirdahanty apamānitāḥ ||
ਨਾ ਰਿਸ਼ੀ ਦਿਸਦੇ ਸਨ, ਨਾ ਦੇਵਤੇ, ਨਾ ਹੀ ਮਨੁੱਖ। ਇਸ ਤਰ੍ਹਾਂ ਜਦੋਂ ਹਰ ਪਾਸੇ ਘੋਰ ਹਨੇਰਾ ਛਾ ਗਿਆ, ਤਾਂ ਅਪਮਾਨਿਤ ਹੋਏ ਉਹ ਪ੍ਰਤੀਸ਼ੋਧ ਵਿੱਚ ਸਾੜਨ ਲੱਗ ਪਏ।
दक्ष उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical danger of humiliation and disrespect: when honour is violated, disorder spreads and destructive retaliation can follow, obscuring clarity and harming the wider community.
Dakṣa describes a sudden, all-encompassing darkness in which sages, gods, and humans are no longer seen; in that chaos, the insulted party (understood in context as Rudra’s attendants) begins setting things ablaze.