Shloka 146

Devanagari script

सहस््रयामप्रतिमा बभूव प्राणहारिणी । यह तीन पहरकी रात उनके लिये सहसौरों प्रहरोंकी रात्रिके समान घोर, भयानक एवं प्राणहारिणी प्रतीत होती थी

Transliteration

sahasrayāmapratimā babhūva prāṇahāriṇī |

Translation

قال سنجيا: تلك الليلة، وإن لم تزد على ثلاث هِجَع، بدت لهم كأنها ليلةٌ من آلاف الهِجَع—كئيبةٌ مروِّعة، كأنها تسلب الحياة ذاتها. ففي المناخ الأخلاقي للحرب، ضاعف الخوف والإعياء إحساس الزمن، وصار عذاب النفس قاتلًا كالسلاح.

Word by Word

• सहस्रयामप्रतिमा: having the likeness of a thousand yāmas (watches)
• सहस्रयामप्रतिमा: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सहस्र-याम-प्रतिमा
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• बभूव: became/was
• Type: Verb
• Root: भू
• Form: Perfect (Liṭ), 3rd, Singular, Parasmaipada

• प्राणहारिणी: life-taking, deadly
• प्राणहारिणी: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: प्राणहारिन्
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

War’s violence does not remain only on the battlefield; it invades the mind. When fear, guilt, and exhaustion dominate, even ordinary time becomes oppressive, and suffering feels life-draining—an ethical reminder of the inner cost of adharma and relentless conflict.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports that a particular night during the Drona Parva felt unbearably long and deadly to those involved—only three watches in duration, yet experienced as if it were thousands, because of the terror and intensity surrounding the events of the war.