Shloka 28
Bhṛgu–Bharadvāja-saṃvāda: Vānaprastha-parivrājaka-ācāra, Abhaya-dharma, and Lokānāṃ Vibhāga (Śānti-parva 185)
इष्टश्नानिष्टगन्धश्न मधुर: कटुरेव च । निहरि संहत: स्निग्धो रूक्षो विशद एव च
iṣṭaśnān iṣṭagandhaś ca madhuraḥ kaṭur eva ca | nihāri saṃhataḥ snigdho rūkṣo viśada eva ca ||
इष्टश्चानिष्टगन्धश्च मधुरः कटुरेव च । निहारी संहतः स्निग्धो रूक्षो विशद एव च ॥
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
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.
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.