Shloka 115

ब्राह्मणस्य पूर्वतरा वृत्तिः — The Earlier Ideal Conduct of a Brahmana

River-of-Saṃsāra Metaphor

Devanagari script

संकरं कांस्यभाण्डैश्व बलिं चैव कुपात्रके: । चातुर्वर्ण्य यदा कृत्स्नममर्यादं भविष्यति

Transliteration

saṅkaraṃ kāṃsyabhāṇḍaiś ca baliṃ caiva kupātrakeḥ | cāturvarṇyaṃ yadā kṛtsnam amaryādaṃ bhaviṣyati ||

Translation

ภีษมะกล่าวว่า “เมื่อระเบียบสังคมล่มสลาย ความปะปนและความสับสนจักเกิดขึ้นโดยไร้การแยกแยะ เครื่องบูชาจักถูกถวายด้วยภาชนะอันไม่สมควร และส่วยสาอากรจักถูกรวบรวมโดยมือที่ไม่คู่ควร ครั้นนั้นระเบียบสี่วรรณะทั้งมวลจักไร้ขอบเขตและไร้แบบแผน”

Word by Word

संकरम्mixture, confusion (of castes)

कांस्यभाण्डैःwith bronze vessels

बलिम्offering, oblation

चand

एवindeed, just

कुपात्रकेin an unworthy vessel/recipient

चातुर्वर्ण्यम्the fourfold social order

यदाwhen

कृत्स्नम्entire, whole

अमर्यादम्without bounds, lawless

भविष्यतिwill become

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

cāturvarṇya (fourfold social order)

kāṃsyabhāṇḍa (bronze ritual vessels)

bali (offering/tribute)

ku-pātra (unworthy recipient/improper vessel)

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?

The verse warns that when dharma weakens, both ritual practice and social ethics lose their standards: offerings and honors go to unworthy recipients, and the structured responsibilities of the four varṇas become confused and boundaryless.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and governance. Here he describes signs of societal decline—misplaced offerings/tributes and the breakdown of cāturvarṇya—illustrating how disorder manifests when norms (maryādā) are ignored.