Shloka 28

Bhṛgu–Bharadvāja-saṃvāda: Vānaprastha-parivrājaka-ācāra, Abhaya-dharma, and Lokānāṃ Vibhāga (Śānti-parva 185)

Devanagari script

इष्टश्नानिष्टगन्धश्न मधुर: कटुरेव च । निहरि संहत: स्निग्धो रूक्षो विशद एव च

Transliteration

iṣṭaśnān iṣṭagandhaś ca madhuraḥ kaṭur eva ca | nihāri saṃhataḥ snigdho rūkṣo viśada eva ca ||

Translation

Бхарадваджа сказал: «(Пища) может быть приятной и благоуханной; может быть сладкой или же острой. Может быть густой, как похлёбка, плотной и хорошо связанной; может быть жирной или сухой; может быть также ясной и чистой.»

Word by Word

इष्टश्नानिष्टगन्धश्नःone who eats what is liked and what is disliked; one who eats pleasant and unpleasant-smelling (food)

मधुरःsweet

कटुःpungent

एवindeed/just

चand

निहारीone who is misty/obscured; one having dew/fog (nīhāra)

संहतःcompact/closely joined

स्निग्धःunctuous/oily/smooth

रूक्षःdry/rough

विशदःclear/bright/pure

एवindeed/just

चand

Speaker

भरद्वाज उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bharadvāja

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse catalogs sensory and physical qualities of food—taste, fragrance, thickness, oiliness, dryness, clarity—preparing an ethical reflection on how desire and sense-experience attach to eating, and how discipline or discernment should govern consumption.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bharadvāja is speaking in a didactic context within Śānti Parva, describing varieties of food by their properties, as part of a broader discussion that evaluates bodily enjoyment and the regulation of the senses in the pursuit of dharma and inner peace.