Shloka 186

Sauptika Parva, Adhyaya 8 — Dhṛṣṭadyumna-vadha and the Camp’s Nocturnal Rout

Devanagari script

नदन्तं विस्फुरन्तं च पशुमारममारयत्‌ । राजन! उसने पैरसे उसकी छाती और गला दोनोंको दबा दिया और उसे पशुकी तरह मारना आरम्भ किया। वह बेचारा चीखता और छटपटाता रह गया

Transliteration

nadantaṃ visphurantaṃ ca paśum āramamārayat | rājan! asne pādaiḥ tasya chātīṃ ca galaṃ ca ubhayaṃ pīḍayitvā taṃ paśuvat hantum ārabdhavān; sa tu dīnaḥ krośan vikṣipya caiva vyathitaḥ

Translation

قال سنجيا: مع أنه كان يزأر ويتشنّج، قُتل كأنه بهيمة. أيها الملك، إذ ضغط بقدميه على صدر الرجل وحلقه، شرع يقتله كما يُقتل الحيوان. ولم يملك المسكين إلا أن يصرخ ويتلوّى ألمًا.

Word by Word

• नदन्तम्: roaring/crying (him)
• नदन्तम्: Karma
• Type: Verb
• Root: नद् (धातु)
• Form: शतृ (वर्तमान कृदन्त), पुं, द्वितीया, एकवचन

• विस्फुरन्तम्: struggling/twitching (him)
• विस्फुरन्तम्: Karma
• Type: Verb
• Root: विस्फुर् (धातु)
• Form: शतृ (वर्तमान कृदन्त), पुं, द्वितीया, एकवचन

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• पशुमारम्: Pashumara (a name/epithet)
• पशुमारम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: पशुमार (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुं, द्वितीया, एकवचन

• अमारयत्: killed/caused to die
• Type: Verb
• Root: मृ (धातु) [णिच्: मारय-]
• Form: लङ् (अनद्यतन भूत), परस्मैपद, प्रथम, एकवचन

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra (addressed as rājan)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how, when dharma and self-restraint collapse in war’s aftermath, violence becomes dehumanizing—treating a person ‘like an animal’—and thus signals an ethical descent (adharma) rather than heroic conduct.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sanjaya describes a brutal killing: the victim cries and convulses while the attacker pins him down by pressing on his chest and throat with his feet and kills him in a beast-like manner, reporting this to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra.