Shloka 10
Cavana’s Tests of Kuśika and the Queen (अध्याय ५३: च्यवन–कुशिक-परिक्षा)
जलौकसां स सत्त्वानां बभूव प्रियदर्शन: । उपाजिघ्रन्त च तदा तस्योष्ठ॑ हृष्टमानसा:
jalaukasāṃ sa sattvānāṃ babhūva priyadarśanaḥ | upājighranta ca tadā tasyauṣṭhaṃ hṛṣṭamānasāḥ ||
بھیشم نے کہا—پانی میں رہنے والے جانداروں کو وہ نہایت خوش منظر دکھائی دیتا تھا۔ تب وہ خوش دل ہو کر قریب آئے اور اس کے ہونٹ سونگھنے لگے۔
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a quality of gentleness and auspicious presence: even non-human beings respond with trust and delight. In dharma-literature, such imagery often supports the ethical ideal that purity of conduct and harmlessness naturally elicit goodwill from all creatures.
Bhīṣma describes a scene in which water-dwelling creatures find a certain person pleasing to look at and, feeling joyful, approach closely and sniff his lips—an intimate sign of fearlessness and attraction in animals, indicating the person’s benign, agreeable nature.