Shloka 16

Devanagari script

अजुन उवाच समुद्रे हिमवत्पाश्वे नद्यामस्यां च दुर्मते । रात्रावहनि संध्यायां कस्य गुप्त: परिग्रह:,अर्जुन बोले-<दुर्मते! समुद्र, हिमालयकी तराई और गंगानदीके तटपर रात, दिन अथवा संध्याके समय किसका अधिकार सुरक्षित है?

Transliteration

arjuna uvāca samudre himavatpārśve nadyām asyāṁ ca durmate | rātrāv ahani sandhyāyāṁ kasya guptaḥ parigrahaḥ ||

Translation

অর্জুনে ক’লে— “দুৰ্মতে! সাগৰৰ তীৰত, হিমৱন্তৰ পাদদেশত আৰু এই নদীৰ কাষত—ৰাতি, দিন বা সন্ধিক্ষণত—কাৰ অধিকাৰ সঁচাকৈ সুৰক্ষিত থাকিব পাৰে? কোনে এনে স্থানক ৰক্ষিত ব্যক্তিগত অধিকাৰ বুলি ধৰি ৰাখিব পাৰে?”

Word by Word

अर्जुनःArjuna

उवाचsaid

समुद्रेin/at the sea

हिमवत्पार्श्वेon the side/foothills of Himavat (Himalaya)

नद्याम्in/at the river

अस्याम्in this (river/place)

चand

दुर्मतेO evil-minded one / O fool

रात्रौat night

अहनिin the day / by day

संध्यायाम्at twilight

कस्यof whom / whose

गुप्तःprotected, secured

परिग्रहःpossession, claim, right

Speaker

अजुन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Arjuna

Samudra (the sea)

Himavat (Himalaya)

Nadī (this river)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse challenges the idea of secure, exclusive ownership over open and contested spaces (seashores, riverbanks, mountain foothills), implying that attachment to possession (parigraha) is fragile and ethically questionable when it rests on force or opportunism.

What is happening in the narrative?

Arjuna addresses an opponent as “durmate” and questions whose ‘protected claim’ can exist in such public, liminal places and times (night/day/twilight), using rhetorical force to undermine the other party’s assertion of right or control.