Shloka 3

Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 50 — Arjuna’s foreboding and lament for Abhimanyu; Kṛṣṇa’s dharma-consolation

Devanagari script

ततो निशाया दिवसस्य चाशिव: शिवारुतै: संधिरवर्तताद्भधुत: । कुशेशयापीडनिभे दिवाकरे विलम्बमाने<स्तमुपेत्य पर्वतम्‌,उस समय जब सूर्य अस्ताचलपर पहुँचकर ढल रहे थे, कमलनिर्मित मुकुटके समान जान पड़ते थे। दिन और रात्रिकी संधिरूप वह अद्भुत संध्या सियारिनोंके भयंकर शब्दोंसे अमंगलमयी प्रतीत हो रही थी

Transliteration

tato niśāyā divasasya cāśivaḥ śivārutaiḥ sandhir avartatādbhutaḥ | kuśeśayāpīḍanibhe divākare vilambamāne ’stam upetya parvatam ||

Translation

قال سنجيا: ثم حلّت وصلةٌ عجيبة بين الليل والنهار، لكنها بدت مشؤومة، إذ زادتها عواءُ بناتِ آوى رهبةً ونذيرًا. وكان الشمسُ يتباطأ وهو يدنو من جبل المغيب، كأنها تاجٌ من لوتس يُضغط إلى أسفل—شفقٌ مريبٌ يهبط على ساحة القتال، يلمّح إلى الظلمة الأخلاقية التي تطلقها الحرب.

Word by Word

• {'tataḥ': 'then, thereafter', 'niśāyāḥ': 'of the night', 'divasasya': 'of the day', 'sandhiḥ': 'junction, transition (twilight)', 'āśivaḥ': 'inauspicious, unpropitious', 'śivārutaiḥ': 'with the cries/howls of jackals', 'adbhutaḥ': 'marvellous, strange, uncanny', 'avartata': 'came to be, occurred, set in', 'kuśeśaya': 'lotus (water-lily)', 'āpīḍa': 'crown, diadem', 'nibhe': 'like, resembling', 'divākare': 'when the sun (day-maker)', 'vilambamāne': 'lingering, delaying', 'astam': 'setting (west), sunset', 'upetya': 'having approached, reaching', 'parvatam': 'mountain'}

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• the Sun (Divākara)
• mountain of sunset (Asta-parvata)
• jackals (śivā)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse uses ominous natural signs—twilight and jackal cries—to suggest that violence and adharma cast a shadow over the world; even ordinary transitions like sunset can feel morally and emotionally foreboding amid war.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes the onset of evening on the battlefield: the sun is setting behind the western mountain, and the howling of jackals makes the twilight seem uncanny and inauspicious, foreshadowing grim events.