Shloka 65

Trita in the Well (Udapāna-kathā) — Balarāma’s Tīrtha Observances

Devanagari script

ओषधीनां क्षये जाते प्राणिनामपि संक्षय:

Transliteration

oṣadhīnāṃ kṣaye jāte prāṇinām api saṃkṣayaḥ

Translation

เมื่อสมุนไพรสิ้นสูญ สรรพชีวิตก็เสื่อมถอย—เมื่อเครื่องค้ำจุนแห่งการเยียวยาหมดไป ชีวิตย่อมร่อยหรอ

Word by Word

• ओषधीनाम्: of medicinal herbs/plants
• ओषधीनाम्: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: ओषधि
• Form: Feminine, Genitive, Plural

• क्षये: in (the state of) destruction/decline
• क्षये: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: क्षय
• Form: Masculine, Locative, Singular

• जाते: having occurred/arisen
• जाते: Adhikarana
• Type: Verb
• Root: जात
• Form: क्त (past passive participle), जन्, Masculine, Locative, Singular

• प्राणिनाम्: of living beings
• प्राणिनाम्: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्राणिन्
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Plural

• अपि: also/even
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अपि

• संक्षयः: destruction/ruin (ensues)
• संक्षयः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: संक्षय
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• oṣadhi (medicinal herbs)
• prāṇin (living beings)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches interdependence: when the natural and medicinal supports of life are destroyed, the harm does not remain local—living beings themselves decline. Ethically, it warns that violence and neglect that ruin sustaining resources amplify suffering and mortality.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana states a causal observation: the depletion of healing herbs leads to the decline of creatures. In the broader war context of the Shalya Parva, it functions as a reflection on how devastation spreads—damage to resources and remedies worsens the fate of the wounded and the vulnerable.