Shloka 11
Chatra–Upānah Dāna: Origin Narrative
Jamadagni–Reṇukā–Sūrya Saṃvāda
पुरा वेदान् ब्राह्मुणा ग्राममध्ये घुष्टस्वरा वृषलान् श्रावयन्ति | पुरा राजा व्यवहारेण धर्मान् पश्यत्यहं परलोक॑ व्रजामि
bhīṣma uvāca | purā vedān brāhmaṇā grāmamadhye ghuṣṭasvarā vṛṣalān śrāvayanti | purā rājā vyavahāreṇa dharmān paśyaty ahaṃ paralokaṃ vrajāmi |
Бхишма сказал: «Да уйду я в иной мир прежде, чем настанет такое время, когда брахманы, возвышая голос посреди селения, станут читать Веды так, чтобы их слышали шудры, и когда царь начнёт судить о дхарме лишь сквозь призму мирских дел, торговли и тяжб. Прежде чем эти искажения священного порядка и царского долга укоренятся, позвольте мне отойти в тот мир.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma warns against two signs of dharmic deterioration: (1) sacred learning being handled in a way he views as improper for its traditional transmission, and (2) a king reducing dharma to mere ‘vyavahāra’—pragmatic business or courtroom procedure—rather than upholding deeper moral and spiritual justice. The verse frames these as markers of a world he would rather leave than witness.
Bhishma, speaking in the Anushasana Parva while instructing on dharma, expresses a grim forecast: if Brahmins publicly proclaim Vedic recitation in the village to be heard by those deemed unqualified (here termed vṛṣalas/śūdras), and if the king starts ‘seeing’ dharma only through transactional or legalistic considerations, then Bhishma says he would prefer to depart to the afterlife before such a time.