Shloka 12

Adhyāya 118: Saciva-parīkṣā

Testing and Appointment of Ministers/Servants

Devanagari script

कदाचित्‌ कालयोगेन सर्वप्राणिविहिंसक: । बलवान्‌ क्षतजाहारो नानासच्त्वभयंकर:

Transliteration

kadācit kālayogena sarva-prāṇi-vihiṃsakaḥ | balavān kṣata-jāhāro nānā-sattva-bhayaṃkaraḥ ||

Translation

毗湿摩说道：“有一次，随时运流转，出现了一头强大的凶兽——残害一切众生。以血为食，它成了诸多林兽的恐怖之源。”

Word by Word

• कदाचित्: once, at some time
• कदाचित्: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: कदाचित्

• कालयोगेन: by the conjunction of time; in due course of time
• कालयोगेन: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: कालयोग
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Singular

• सर्वप्राणिविहिंसकः: injurer of all living beings
• सर्वप्राणिविहिंसकः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सर्वप्राणिविहिंसक
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• बलवान्: strong, powerful
• बलवान्: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: बलवत्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• क्षतजाहारः: blood-eating; feeding on blood
• क्षतजाहारः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: क्षतजाहार
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• नानासत्त्वभयंकरः: terrifying to various creatures
• नानासत्त्वभयंकरः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: नानासत्त्वभयंकर
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma (speaker)
• Time (kāla, as causal force)
• A powerful blood-eating violent creature (unnamed in the Sanskrit verse)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames violence and fear as forces that arise ‘by the working of Time’ (kālayoga), reminding the listener that destructive tendencies can manifest in the world through circumstance; it sets up an ethical contrast where indiscriminate harm (vihiṃsā) becomes a marker of adharma and a cause of widespread terror among beings.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhishma describes the arrival of a powerful, blood-feeding, universally harmful creature that terrifies many kinds of animals. The verse functions as the narrative entry-point for a subsequent episode in which this violent being becomes the source of danger and conflict.