Anushasana Parva Adhyaya 50 Shloka 53 - Mahabharata | Telugu | Vedapath

Vyasa

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Shloka 53

Cyavana’s Water-Vow and the Ethics of Cohabitation (स्नेह-सम्वास-धर्मः)

Devanagari script

पज्चधा तु भवेत्‌ कार्य वैश्यस्वं भरतर्षभ । तयोरपत्ये वक्ष्यामि विभागं च जनाधिप

Transliteration

pañcadhā tu bhavet kārya vaiśyasvaṃ bharatarṣabha | tayor apatye vakṣyāmi vibhāgaṃ ca janādhipa ||

Translation

భీష్ముడు పలికెను—ఓ భరతశ్రేష్ఠా! వైశ్యుని కర్తవ్యాలు, వ్యవహారాలు ఐదు విభాగాలుగా ఏర్పాటు చేయవలెను. అలాగే, ఓ రాజాధిపా, వారి సంతాన విషయమున కూడా తగిన విభజనను నేను వివరించెదను.

Word by Word

पञ्चधाin five ways / fivefold

तुbut/indeed

भवेत्should be / may be

कार्यःthe duty / the act to be done

वैश्यत्वम्the state/duty of a Vaiśya

भरतर्षभO bull among the Bharatas

तयोःof those two / in those two

अपत्येwith regard to offspring

वक्ष्यामिI shall explain

विभागम्division / classification

चand

जनाधिपO ruler of people

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

janādhipa (the king, i.e., Yudhiṣṭhira in context)

bharatarṣabha (descendant of Bharata, i.e., the Pāṇḍava king addressed)

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?

Bhīṣma frames Vaiśya-dharma as a structured, fivefold set of prescribed duties, emphasizing that social responsibilities should be clearly defined and ethically ordered; he also signals that rules concerning progeny and their proper classification will be explained to maintain dharmic stability.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction section, Bhīṣma continues advising the king (Yudhiṣṭhira) on dharma. Here he transitions into a systematic description of the Vaiśya’s duties, announcing a five-part division and indicating a forthcoming discussion on offspring and their categorization.