Shloka 53

कर्णनिधनवृत्तान्तनिवेदनम् | Reporting Karṇa’s Fall to Yudhiṣṭhira

Devanagari script

यथा चाल्पश्रुतो मूढो धर्माणामविभागवित्‌

Transliteration

yathā cālpaśruto mūḍho dharmāṇām avibhāgavit

Translation

Như kẻ ngu dốt, học ít hiểu hẹp, không thể phân biệt cho đúng những sai khác giữa các bổn phận của Dharma,

Word by Word

• यथा: as, just as
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यथा

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• अल्पश्रुतः: one who has heard/learned little; poorly learned
• अल्पश्रुतः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अल्पश्रुत
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• मूढः: deluded, foolish
• मूढः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: मूढ
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• धर्माणाम्: of duties/laws/virtues
• Type: Noun
• Root: धर्म
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Plural

• अविभागवित्: knowing no distinctions (i.e., not discerning divisions)
• अविभागवित्: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अविभागविद्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyudeva

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Dharma requires viveka (discriminative understanding). Mere partial learning leads to confusion, and without grasping the distinctions among duties and contexts, one misjudges what is righteous.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyudeva begins an instructive comparison: he points to the example of an ignorant, poorly educated person who cannot distinguish among dharmas, setting up a broader admonition about mistaken moral reasoning.