Shloka 50

पापात्म-धर्मात्म-लक्षणम् तथा निर्वेदेन मोक्षमार्गः | Marks of the Sinful and the Righteous; Dispassion (Nirveda) as a Path to Liberation

Devanagari script

एवं न स्त्री न चैवाहं नाध्वगस्त्रिदशे श्वर: । अपराध्यति धर्मस्य प्रमादस्त्वपराध्यति

Transliteration

evaṁ na strī na caivāhaṁ nādhvagas tridāśeśvaraḥ | aparādhyati dharmasya pramādas tv aparādhyati ||

Translation

భీష్ముడు పలికెను—ఈ విధంగా ఆ స్త్రీకీ, నాకూ, బ్రాహ్మణ వేషంలో వచ్చిన పథికుడైన దేవేంద్రునికీ అపరాధం లేదు. అపరాధి ధర్మవిషయక ప్రమాదమే; స్త్రీవధ రూపంగా నాలో జరిగిన ఆ నిర్లక్ష్యమే ఈ దోషానికి మూలమైంది.

Word by Word

• एवम्: thus, in this manner
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एवम्

• न: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न

• स्त्री: woman
• स्त्री: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: स्त्री
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• न: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न

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

• एव: indeed, just
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• अहम्: I
• अहम्: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: अहम्
• Form: Common, Nominative, Singular

• न: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न

• अध्वगः: traveller, wayfarer
• अध्वगः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: अध्वग
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• त्रिदशेश्वरः: lord of the thirty (gods), i.e., Indra
• त्रिदशेश्वरः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: त्रिदश-ईश्वर
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• अपराध्यति: commits an offense, errs
• Type: Verb
• Root: अपराध्
• Form: Present (Lat), 3rd, Singular, Parasmaipada

• धर्मस्य: of dharma, of righteousness
• Type: Noun
• Root: धर्म
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Singular

• प्रमादः: negligence, inadvertence
• प्रमादः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्रमाद
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• तु: but, however
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तु

• अपराध्यति: commits an offense, errs
• Type: Verb
• Root: अपराध्
• Form: Present (Lat), 3rd, Singular, Parasmaipada

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• a woman (strī)
• Indra (Tridāśeśvara)
• a traveller (adhvaga)
• a brahmin disguise (brāhmaṇa-veśa, implied by the Hindi gloss)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse locates moral blame not in persons used as instruments or in external circumstances, but in pramāda—carelessness regarding dharma. Ethical failure arises from negligence, and one must own the lapse rather than scapegoat others.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhishma reflects on a wrongdoing connected with the killing of a woman. He declares that neither the woman, nor he as a person, nor Indra (who appeared as a traveller in brahmin guise) is intrinsically to blame; rather, the decisive cause of the offence was his own negligent lapse in adhering to dharma.