Shloka 101

ब्राह्मणस्य पूर्वतरा वृत्तिः — The Earlier Ideal Conduct of a Brahmana

River-of-Saṃsāra Metaphor

Devanagari script

उच्छाया विनिपातान्ता भावो5भाव: स एव च

Transliteration

ucchāyā vinipātāntā bhāvo 'bhāvaḥ sa eva ca

Translation

उच्छ्राया विनिपातान्ता; भावोऽभावः स एव च।

Word by Word

• उच्छाया: shadow (lit. raised/extended shadow)
• उच्छाया: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: उच्छाया
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• विनिपातान्ता: ending in a fall/downfall; having downfall as its end
• विनिपातान्ता: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: विनिपातान्त
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• भावः: existence; becoming; state of being
• भावः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: भाव
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• अभावः: non-existence; absence
• अभावः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: अभाव
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• सः: that; he/it
• सः: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• एव: indeed; just; only
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhīṣma emphasizes impermanence: whatever ascends or prospers inevitably ends in decline. Seeing that both ‘being’ and ‘non-being’ culminate in the same end supports vairāgya (detachment) and steadiness in dharma amid changing fortunes.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and the foundations of peace after the war. This line functions as a reflective maxim within that instruction, steering the listener away from pride in success and despair in loss.