Shloka 157

Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)

Devanagari script

सप्ताडस्यास्य राज्यस्य त्रिदण्ड्यस्येव तिष्ठतः । अन्योन्यगुणयुक्तस्य कः केन गुणतोडघधिक:,मित्र, मन्त्री, नगर, राष्ट्र दण्ड, कोष और राजा-ये राज्यके सात अंग हैं। जैसे मेरे हाथमें त्रिदण्ड है, वैसे आपके हाथमें यह राज्य स्थित है। आपका सात अंगोंवाला राज्य और मेरा त्रिदण्ड-ये दोनों परस्पर उत्कृष्ट गुणोंसे युक्त हैं। फिर इनमेंसे कौन किस गुणके कारण अधिक है?

Transliteration

saptāṅgasyāsya rājyasya tridaṇḍyasyeva tiṣṭhataḥ | anyonyaguṇayuktasya kaḥ kena guṇato 'dhikaḥ ||

Translation

భీష్ముడు పలికెను—సప్తాంగములతో కూడిన ఈ రాజ్యం నీ చేతిలో త్రిదండంలా నిలిచియున్నది. నీ సప్తాంగ రాజనీతి మరియు నా త్రిదండము—ఇవిరండును పరస్పర ఉత్తమ గుణములతో యుక్తములు. అయితే ఏది ఏ గుణముచేత శ్రేష్ఠమో చెప్పుము.

Word by Word

सप्ताङ्गस्यof the seven-limbed (having seven constituents)

अस्यof this

राज्यस्यof the kingdom/state

त्रिदण्ड्यस्यof the bearer of the triple staff (tridaṇḍin)

इवlike, as if

तिष्ठतःstanding; remaining

अन्योन्यगुणयुक्तस्यof that which is endowed with each other’s qualities / mutually qualified

कःwho/which (one)?

केनby which? because of what?

गुणतःin respect of quality; because of a quality

अधिकःsuperior; greater

Speaker

भीष्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

rājya (the kingdom/state)

saptāṅga (seven limbs of the state)

tridaṇḍa (triple staff)

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?

Bhīṣma frames governance as an ethical system: a kingdom is sustained by interdependent limbs (the saptāṅga model), and its excellence must be judged by virtues rather than mere power. He also links political authority with disciplined restraint symbolized by the tridaṇḍa.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on rājadharma, Bhīṣma addresses the king (Yudhiṣṭhira) and compares the seven-limbed state in the king’s hand to a triple staff in his own, inviting a discussion on comparative excellence and the virtues that make a polity superior.