Shloka 31
Śaraṇāgata-Atithi-Dharma in the Kapota Narrative (कपोत-आख्यानम्—शरणागतधर्मः)
कुक्कुटारावबहुल॑ गर्दभध्वनिनादितम् । उदघोषद्धिः खरैरवाकक््ये: कलहद्धिः परस्परम्
kukkūṭārāva-bahulaṁ gardabha-dhvani-nāditam | udaghoṣadbhis kharair avāk-śabdaḥ kalahadbhis parasparam ||
Wika ni Bhishma: “Ang pook na iyon ay umuugong sa lahat ng dako sa madalas na tilaok ng mga manok at sa ungol ng mga asno. Ang mga lalaking magaspang ang tinig, nag-aaway-away, ay lumikha ng kaguluhan, nagsusukatan ng mapapait na salita at mga sumpa.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a soundscape of coarse cries and mutual quarrelling to signal moral and social decline: when speech becomes harsh and people delight in conflict, the environment itself turns inauspicious and dharma is obscured.
Bhishma describes a noisy, disorderly scene filled with the crowing of cocks, the braying of donkeys, and people shouting and fighting among themselves, creating a clamour of abusive words.