Shloka 1253

Devanagari script

ललाटे दारयामास शरेणानतपर्वणा । महाराज! तब अभश्व॒त्थामाने झुकी हुई गाँठवाले बाणसे भीमसेनके सारथिका ललाट छेद दिया

Transliteration

lalāṭe dārayāmāsa śareṇāntaparvaṇā | mahārāja! tad abhāśvatthāmāne jhukī huī gāṁṭhavāle bāṇase bhīmasenasya sārathikā lalāṭaṁ chittvāvidhyat |

Translation

قال سانجيا: أيها الملك! عندئذٍ شقّ أشڤتّاما جبهةَ سائق عربة بهيماسينا بسهمٍ صُلبِ الطرف كأنه حديد، ذي عقدةٍ منحنية، فنفذ في موضع ما بين الحاجبين.

Word by Word

• ललाटे: on the forehead
• ललाटे: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: ललाट
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• दारयामास: pierced / split
• दारयामास: Karma
• Type: Verb
• Root: दॄ (दारयति)
• Form: Perfect (Periphrastic), 3rd, Singular

• शरेण: with an arrow
• शरेण: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: शर
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Singular

• अनतपर्वणा: having bent/curved joints (knotty-jointed)
• अनतपर्वणा: Karana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अनतपर्वन्
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Singular

• महाराज: O great king
• Type: Noun
• Root: महाराज
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• संजय (Sañjaya)
• महाराज / धृतराष्ट्र (Dhṛtarāṣṭra)
• अश्वत्थामा (Aśvatthāmā)
• भीमसेन (Bhīmasena)
• भीमसेन का सारथि (Bhīma’s charioteer)
• शर / बाण (arrow)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the harsh reality of war: even supporting figures like charioteers become targets, raising ethical tension between battlefield necessity and the ideal restraints of dharma. It invites reflection on responsibility—those who choose war must also bear the moral burden of its collateral suffering.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that, amid Aśvatthāmā’s attack, an arrow with a hardened tip strikes and splits the forehead of Bhīma’s charioteer, describing a precise and lethal battlefield blow.