Vidura Explains the Parable of the Forest

Verse 1 (11.6.1)

अहो खलु महद्दुःखं कृच्छ्रवासं वसत्यसौ । कथं तस्य रतिस्तत्र तुष्टिर्वा वदतां वर ॥

aho khalu mahadduḥkhaṃ kṛcchravāsaṃ vasatyasau | kathaṃ tasya ratistatra tuṣṭirvā vadatāṃ vara

Dhritarashtra said: Oh, what a great sorrow! He lives in such utter hardship. How can he find delight or contentment there, O best of speakers?

Verse 2 (11.6.2)

स देशः क्वनु यत्रासौ वसते धर्मसङ्कटे । कथं वा स विमुच्येत नरस्तस्मान्महाभयात् ॥

sa deśaḥ kvanu yatrāsau vasate dharmasaṅkaṭe | kathaṃ vā sa vimucyeta narastasmānmahābhayāt

Where is that place in which he lives in such a perilous plight? Or how may that man be freed from so great a terror?

Verse 3 (11.6.3)

एतन्मे सर्वमाचक्ष्व साधु चेष्टामहे तदा । कृपा मे महती जाता तस्याभ्युद्धरणेन हि ॥

etanme sarvamācakṣva sādhu ceṣṭāmahe tadā | kṛpā me mahatī jātā tasyābhyuddharaṇena hi

Tell me all this; then we shall act as is right. Great pity has risen in me, for I wish to lift him out.

Verse 4 (11.6.4)

उपाख्यानमिदं राजन्मोक्षविद्भिरुदाहृतम् । सुगतिं विन्दते येन परलोकेषु मानवः ॥

upākhyānamidaṃ rājanmokṣavidbhirudāhṛtam | sugatiṃ vindate yena paralokeṣu mānavaḥ

Vidura said: This is a parable, O king, set forth by those who know liberation, by which a man attains a good destination in the worlds beyond.

Note on the text: Recension variant, kept: Wikisource उपाख्यानम् against CE upamānam (the page's own note cites उपमानम् as a manuscript reading).

Verse 5 (11.6.5)

उच्यते यत्तु कान्तारं महासंसार एव सः । वनं दुर्गं हि यच्चैतत्संसारगहनं हि तत् ॥

ucyate yattu kāntāraṃ mahāsaṃsāra eva saḥ | vanaṃ durgaṃ hi yaccaitatsaṃsāragahanaṃ hi tat

What is called the wilderness is the great cycle of worldly existence itself; and the impassable forest is the very thicket of that existence.

Verse 6 (11.6.6)

ये च ते कथिता व्याला व्याधयस्ते प्रकीर्तिताः ॥

ye ca te kathitā vyālā vyādhayaste prakīrtitāḥ

The wild beasts that were mentioned are declared to be diseases.

Note on the text: A single line in the page's division; with the next verse it makes the three lines of CE 11.6.6 (6a, 6c, 6e). The alignment found no match.

Verse 7 (11.6.7)

या सा नारी बृहत्काया अध्यतिष्ठत तत्र वै । तामाहुस्तु जरां प्राज्ञा रूपवर्णविनाशिनीम् ॥

yā sā nārī bṛhatkāyā adhyatiṣṭhata tatra vai | tāmāhustu jarāṃ prājñā rūpavarṇavināśinīm

The huge-bodied woman who stood there, the wise call old age, the destroyer of colour and form.

Note on the text: Lines 1–2 = CE 11.6.6c and 6e (CE adhitiṣṭhati for अध्यतिष्ठत; varṇarūpa for रूपवर्ण). The alignment found no match.

Verse 8 (11.6.8)

स यस्तु कूपो नृपते स तु देहः शरीरिणाम् । यस्तत्र वसतेऽधस्तान्महाहिः काल एव सः । अन्तकः सर्वभूतानां देहिनां प्राणाहार्यसौ ॥

sa yastu kūpo nṛpate sa tu dehaḥ śarīriṇām | yastatra vasate'dhastānmahāhiḥ kāla eva saḥ | antakaḥ sarvabhūtānāṃ dehināṃ prāṇāhāryasau

The well, O lord of men, is the body of embodied beings. The great serpent that lives below is Time himself, the ender of all creatures, who takes the life of every embodied being.

Verse 9 (11.6.9)

कूपमध्ये च या जाता वल्ली यत्र स मानवः । प्रोतो ययाऽभवल्लग्नो जीविताशा शरीरिणाम् ॥

kūpamadhye ca yā jātā vallī yatra sa mānavaḥ | proto yayā'bhavallagno jīvitāśā śarīriṇām

The creeper that grew in the middle of the well, to which the man was strung and clung — that is the hope of life of embodied beings.

Note on the text: Recension variant, kept: Wikisource प्रोतो ययाऽभवल्लग्नो against CE pratāne lambate sā tu (line 2).

Verse 10 (11.6.10)

स यस्तु कूपपीनाहे तं वृक्षं परिसर्पति । षड्वक्त्रः कुञ्जरो राजन्स तु संवत्सरः स्मृतः ॥

sa yastu kūpapīnāhe taṃ vṛkṣaṃ parisarpati | ṣaḍvaktraḥ kuñjaro rājansa tu saṃvatsaraḥ smṛtaḥ

The six-faced elephant, O king, that creeps round that tree at the rim of the well is remembered as the year;

Note on the text: Lines 1–2 = CE 11.6.9a and 9c. The alignment found no match. Wikisource पीनाहे for CE vīnāhe is a recension variant, kept.

Verse 11 (11.6.11)

मुखानि ऋतवो मासाः पादा द्वादश कीर्तिताः । ये तु वृक्षं निकृन्तन्ति मूषिकाः पन्नगास्तथा ॥

mukhāni ṛtavo māsāḥ pādā dvādaśa kīrtitāḥ | ye tu vṛkṣaṃ nikṛntanti mūṣikāḥ pannagāstathā

its faces are the seasons, and its feet are the twelve months, it is said. The mice, and the serpents too, that gnaw at the tree

Note on the text: Corrected वृंक्षं → वृक्षं (misprint in Wikisource; stray anusvara) and द्वादशा → द्वादश (misprint; long ā breaks the metre; the critical edition reads dvādaśa). Line 1 = CE 11.6.9e; line 2 is a variant of CE 11.6.10a (CE ye tu vṛkṣaṃ nikṛntanti mūṣakāḥ satatotthitāḥ, where the page reads पन्नगास्तथा for सततोत्थिताः). The alignment found no match.

Verse 12 (11.6.12)

रात्र्यहानि तु तान्याहुर्भूतानां परिचिन्तकाः । ये ते मधुकरास्तत्र कामास्ते परिकीर्तिताः ॥

rātryahāni tu tānyāhurbhūtānāṃ paricintakāḥ | ye te madhukarāstatra kāmāste parikīrtitāḥ

are what those who ponder the nature of beings call nights and days. The bees there are called desires.

Note on the text: Lines 1–2 = CE 11.6.10c and 10e. The alignment found no match.

Verse 13 (11.6.13)

यास्तु ता बहुशो धाराः स्रवन्ति मधुनिस्रवम् । तांस्तु कामरसान्विन्द्याद्यत्र सज्जन्ति मानवाः ॥

yāstu tā bahuśo dhārāḥ sravanti madhunisravam | tāṃstu kāmarasānvindyādyatra sajjanti mānavāḥ

And the many streams that flow, trickling honey, one should know to be the savours of desire, in which men are caught.

Note on the text: Recension variant, kept: Wikisource विन्द्यात् … सज्जन्ति against CE vidyād … majjanti.

Verse 14 (11.6.14)

एवं संसारचक्रस्य परिवृत्तिं विदुर्बुधाः । येन संसारचक्रस्य पाशांश्छिन्दन्ति सर्वथा ॥

evaṃ saṃsāracakrasya parivṛttiṃ vidurbudhāḥ | yena saṃsāracakrasya pāśāṃśchindanti sarvathā

Thus the wise understand the turning of the wheel of worldly existence, by which they cut its bonds entirely.

Note on the text: Recension variant, kept: Wikisource परिवृत्तिं विदुर्बुधाः । येन … सर्वथा against CE parivṛttiṃ sma ye viduḥ / te vai … vai budhāḥ.