Shloka 35

Devanagari script

समुत्पन्नं स्वरूपाणां पुत्राणां ब्राह्मणोत्तम | कदाचिन्मृगयां यात उद्भ्रान्तो गहने वने,“ब्रह्मन! मेरे दो सौ पुत्र कालके द्वारा मारे गये। विप्रवर! मैं पहले राजा था। तब मेरे सौ पुत्र हुए थे। द्विजश्रेष्ठ! वे सभी मेरे अनुरूप थे। एक दिन मैं शिकार खेलनेके लिये गहन वनमें गया और वहाँ अकारण भ्रमित-सा होकर इधर-उधर भटकने लगा

Transliteration

samūtpannaṃ svarūpāṇāṃ putrāṇāṃ brāhmaṇottama | kadācin mṛgayāṃ yāta udbhānto gahane vane |

Translation

“బ్రాహ్మణోత్తమా! ఆ కుమారులు నా స్వరూపానికే సమానంగా జన్మించారు. ఒకసారి నేను వేటకు వెళ్లి, దట్టమైన అడవిలో అయోమయంతో దారి తప్పాను.”

Word by Word

समुत्पन्नम्arisen, produced

स्वरूपाणाम्of (their) own forms/natures

पुत्राणाम्of sons

ब्राह्मणोत्तमO best of Brahmins

कदाचित्once, at some time

मृगयाम्hunting

यातःhaving gone

उद्भ्रान्तःbewildered, confused

गहनेin a dense (place)

वनेin the forest

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

brāhmaṇa (addressed as brāhmaṇottama)

sons (putrāḥ)

forest (vana)

hunt (mṛgayā)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse initiates an illustrative story: even a powerful ruler, driven by worldly pursuits like hunting and attachment to progeny, can fall into confusion. It prepares an ethical lesson that dharma requires restraint, clarity, and vigilance against heedlessness (pramāda).

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma begins recounting an episode: he had many sons resembling him, and on one occasion he went hunting and became disoriented, wandering in a dense forest—an opening that leads into the subsequent events and their moral implications.