Shloka 5

Varṇa-lakṣaṇa and Ātma-saṃyama (Marks of Social Conduct and Self-Restraint) | वर्णलक्षणम् एवं आत्मसंयमः

Devanagari script

व्यालकुण्जरदुर्गेषु सर्पचोरभयेषु च । हस्तावापेन गच्छन्ति नास्तिका: किमत: परम्‌

Transliteration

vyāla-kuñjara-durgeṣu sarpa-cora-bhayeṣu ca | hastāvāpena gacchanti nāstikāḥ kim ataḥ param ||

Translation

ในถิ่นที่อันตรายด้วยสัตว์ร้ายและช้างคลุ้มคลั่ง และในที่ซึ่งเต็มไปด้วยความหวาดกลัวต่ออสรพิษและโจร พวกนาสติกะถูกใส่กุญแจมือแล้วขับไล่ออกไป โทษทัณฑ์ใดเล่าจะยิ่งไปกว่านี้?

Word by Word

• व्यालकुण्जरदुर्गेषु: in places difficult (to traverse) because of wild beasts and elephants
• व्यालकुण्जरदुर्गेषु: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: व्यालकुण्जरदुर्ग
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Plural

• सर्पचोरभयेषु: in (places) with fear of snakes and thieves
• सर्पचोरभयेषु: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: सर्पचोरभय
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Plural

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

• हस्तावापेन: with handcuffs / by fettering the hands
• हस्तावापेन: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: हस्तावाप
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Singular

• गच्छन्ति: they go
• Type: Verb
• Root: गम्
• Form: Present, Indicative, Third, Plural, Parasmaipada

• नास्तिकाः: atheists / unbelievers
• नास्तिकाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: नास्तिक
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• किम्: what
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: किम्
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• अतः: than this / from this
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अतः

• परम्: greater / further
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पर
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• nāstikāḥ (deniers/heterodox persons)
• handcuffs/fetters (hastāvāpa)
• wild beasts
• elephants
• snakes
• thieves/bandits
• dangerous forests/terrain

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhishma underscores the king’s duty to protect social and moral order through proportionate deterrent punishment: expulsion in fetters into perilous wilderness is presented as an extreme penalty, implying that such offenders have already received a severe consequence.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhishma’s discourse on governance and discipline, he describes nāstikas being led away in handcuffs and driven out toward dangerous regions—infested with beasts, elephants, snakes, and thieves—then rhetorically asks what harsher punishment could exist.