Shloka 74

Devanagari script

अनुगम्य विनाशान्ते निवर्तन्ते ह बान्धवा: । अग्नौ प्रक्षिप्य पुरुष ज्ञातय: सुहृदस्तथा,मृत्युके बाद भाई-बन्धु, कुटुम्बी और सुहृद्‌ श्मशान-भूमितक पीछे-पीछे जाते हैं और मृत पुरुषके शरीरको चिताकी आगमें डालकर लौट आते हैं

Transliteration

anugamya vināśānte nivartante ha bāndhavāḥ | agnau prakṣipya puruṣa jñātayaḥ suhṛdas tathā ||

Translation

毗耶娑说：当一个人的生命走到尽头，亲族确会随行相送——却只到那毁灭之地为止。将遗体投入火葬之火后，宗亲与挚友便转身返回。此段昭示世间执著的冷峻界限：相伴只能到火葬场，而灵魂必须独自前行，承担自身业行的果报。

Word by Word

अनुगम्यhaving followed

विनाशान्तेat the end of destruction (i.e., at death’s end/after death)

निवर्तन्तेthey return

हindeed

बान्धवाःkinsmen/relatives

अग्नौin the fire

प्रक्षिप्यhaving thrown/placed

पुरुषम्the man (the dead person/body)

ज्ञातयःkinsmen/relations

सुहृदःfriends/well-wishers

तथाalso/likewise

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vyāsa

bāndhavāḥ (relatives)

jñātayaḥ (kinsmen)

suhṛdaḥ (friends)

agni (funeral fire)

puruṣa (the deceased person/body)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Worldly relationships, however dear, accompany a person only up to death and the cremation ground; beyond that, one proceeds alone, supported only by one’s own dharma and karma. The verse encourages detachment and ethical living in view of life’s impermanence.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vyāsa describes the customary scene after death: relatives and friends follow the deceased to the end, place the body into the funeral fire, and then return home—marking the boundary of human companionship in the face of mortality.