Shloka 118
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
कललादू बुदबुदोत्पत्ति: पेशी च बुद्बुदात् स्मृता । पेश्यास्त्वड्राभिनिर्वत्तिनखरोमाणि चाड्रत:
kalalād budbudotpattiḥ peśī ca budbudāt smṛtā | peśyās tv aṅgābhinirvṛttir nakharomāṇi cāṅgataḥ ||
Wika ni Bhishma: “Mula sa kalala ay lumilitaw ang anyong tila bula; mula sa bulang iyon, sinasabing sumisibol ang bukol na laman (peśī). Mula sa peśī nabubuo ang mga bahagi ng katawan, at mula sa mga bahaging iyon lumilitaw ang mga kuko at mga buhok.”
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse outlines a traditional sequence of bodily development—kalala to budbuda to peśī to limbs, then hair and nails—prompting ethical humility and detachment by showing the body as a constructed, impermanent product of natural order rather than a basis for ego.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma is instructing Yudhiṣṭhira on reflective knowledge and right understanding; here he describes stages of embryonic formation as part of a broader discourse meant to cultivate discernment about the body and the self.