Shloka 46

शल्यपरिघातः (Śalya Under Encirclement) — Mahābhārata, Śalya-parva, Adhyāya 12

Devanagari script

हत विध्यत गृह्नीत प्रहरध्वं निकृन्तत

Transliteration

hata vidhyata gṛhṇīta praharadhvaṃ nikṛntata

Translation

قال سنجيا: «اصرعوا العدو؛ اطعنوه؛ خذوه أسيراً؛ اضربوه؛ قطّعوه إرباً!» في لهيب القتال، هذا نداءُ حشدٍ يعكس زخم الحرب القاسي، حيث تكون أخلاق اللحظة هي الظفر والبقاء لا التروّي والمداولة.

Word by Word

• हत: slay (him)/having slain; the slain (object implied)
• हत: Karma
• Type: Verb
• Root: हन् (धातु) → हत (कृदन्त)
• Form: कृदन्त: क्त-प्रत्यय (past passive participle), प्रथमा/द्वितीया एकवचन (नपुंसकलिङ्ग) — आज्ञार्थक-भावे (imperatival usage)

• विध्यत: pierce (you all)!
• विध्यत: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: व्यध् (विध्यति)
• Form: लोट् (आज्ञार्थ), परस्मैपद, मध्यमपुरुष, बहुवचन

• गृह्णीत: seize/take (you all)!
• गृह्णीत: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: ग्रह् (गृह्णाति)
• Form: लोट् (आज्ञार्थ), परस्मैपद, मध्यमपुरुष, बहुवचन

• प्रहरध्वम्: strike/attack (you all)!
• प्रहरध्वम्: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: प्र-हृ (प्रहरति)
• Form: लोट् (आज्ञार्थ), आत्मनेपद, मध्यमपुरुष, बहुवचन

• निकृन्तत: cut down/hew (you all)!
• निकृन्तत: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: नि-कृत् (निकृन्तति)
• Form: लोट् (आज्ञार्थ), परस्मैपद, मध्यमपुरुष, बहुवचन

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse conveys the uncompromising urgency of battlefield action: commands to attack, capture, and destroy. Ethically, it highlights how war compresses moral choice into the immediate demands of a kṣatriya-style conflict situation, where decisive action is prized.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya, as the war-reporter to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, relays the intensity of the fighting by quoting or summarizing a martial exhortation—rapid-fire imperatives urging the warriors to strike, wound, seize, and cut down opponents.