Shloka 40
Adhyāya 283: Varṇa-vṛtti, Nyāya-ārjana, and the Decline-and-Restoration of Dharma (वर्णवृत्तिः न्यायार्जनं च)
ऋषयो न प्रकाशन्ते न देवा न च मानुषा: । एवं तु तिमिरीभूते निर्दहन्त्यपमानिता:
ṛṣayo na prakāśante na devā na ca mānuṣāḥ | evaṃ tu timirībhūte nirdahanty apamānitāḥ ||
Dakṣa nói: “Không thấy các ṛṣi, không thấy chư thiên, cũng chẳng thấy người phàm. Khi mọi thứ đều bị bóng tối bao phủ như vậy, những kẻ bị sỉ nhục bắt đầu đốt phá nơi ấy để trả thù.”
दक्ष उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical danger of humiliation and disrespect: when honour is violated, disorder spreads and destructive retaliation can follow, obscuring clarity and harming the wider community.
Dakṣa describes a sudden, all-encompassing darkness in which sages, gods, and humans are no longer seen; in that chaos, the insulted party (understood in context as Rudra’s attendants) begins setting things ablaze.