Shloka 156

Devanagari script

तुलया धारयन्‌ धर्ममभिमान्यतिरिच्यते । वह तीस नरकोंमें पड़कर अंतमें अपनी ही विष्ठापर जीनेवाला कीड़ा होता है। कुत्तोंको पालना

Transliteration

tulayā dhārayan dharmam abhimāny atiricyate |

Translation

Người Cāṇḍāla nói: “Đem dharma đặt lên cán cân mà cân, thì lòng kiêu mạn còn nặng hơn.” Ý ở đây là: sự ngạo mạn có thể trở thành lỗi lầm lấn át cả chính nghĩa—một tội lực mạnh đến mức, khi đem so với những tội nặng khác, nó vẫn làm nghiêng cán cân và kéo con người vào chỗ diệt vong.

Word by Word

• तुलया: by a balance/scale
• तुलया: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: तुला
• Form: Feminine, Instrumental, Singular

• धारयन्: holding/bearing
• धारयन्: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: धृ
• Form: शतृ (present active participle), Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• धर्मम्: dharma, righteousness
• धर्मम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: धर्म
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• अभिमान्य: having become proud / having conceived pride
• Type: Verb
• Root: अभि + मन्
• Form: ल्यप् (absolutive/gerund), Parasmaipada (usage as gerund), true

• अतिरिच्यते: exceeds / becomes excessive / outweighs
• Type: Verb
• Root: अति + रिच्
• Form: Present (Lat), Atmanepada, Third, Singular

Speaker

चाण्डाल उवाच

Characters & Entities

• चाण्डाल (Chāṇḍāla)
• धर्म (Dharma)
• तुला (balance/scale)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Pride (abhimāna) is portrayed as a uniquely destructive fault: when moral choices are ‘weighed,’ arrogance can outweigh dharma itself, corrupting judgment and leading one away from righteous conduct.

What is happening in the narrative?

A Chāṇḍāla speaker delivers a pointed ethical maxim using the metaphor of a balance: in the moral reckoning of actions and dispositions, pride is said to tip the scale, emphasizing its danger within dharma-discourse in the Anuśāsana Parva.