Shloka 6

Devanagari script

अतिहर्षोडयमस्थाने तवाद्य मधुसूदन । शोकस्थाने तु सम्प्राप्ते हैडिम्बस्य वधेन तु,“मधुसूदन! हिडिम्बाकुमार घटोत्कचके वधसे आज हमारे लिये तो शोकका अवसर प्राप्त हुआ है, परंतु आपको यह बेमौके अधिक हर्ष हो रहा है

Transliteration

atihārṣo ’yam asthāne tavādya madhusūdana | śokasthāne tu samprāpte haiḍimbasya vadhena tu ||

Translation

হে মধুসূদন! আজি তোমাৰ এই অতিহৰ্ষ অস্থানত। হিডিম্বাৰ পুত্ৰ হৈডিম্ব (ঘটোৎকচ)ৰ বধৰ বাবে আমাৰ বাবে তো এই শোকৰ সময়।

Word by Word

अतिहर्षःexcessive joy

उदयम्arising; manifestation

अस्थानेat an improper time/place; out of place

तवof you; your

अद्यtoday; now

मधुसूदनO slayer of Madhu (Krishna)

शोकस्थानेin a situation of grief

तुbut; indeed

सम्प्राप्तेwhen (it) has come/occurred

हैडिम्बस्यof (the son of) Hidimba / of Haidimba (Ghaṭotkaca)

वधेनby the killing; through the slaying

तुindeed; however

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Madhusūdana (Kṛṣṇa)

Haiḍimba (Ghaṭotkaca)

Hiḍimbā

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 highlights ethical discernment about emotional propriety: joy can be judged ‘out of place’ when it appears amid another’s loss. In the war narrative, it also points to the tension between personal grief and strategic necessity—how outcomes that are tactically advantageous may still be morally and emotionally painful.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya addresses Kṛṣṇa (Madhusūdana), remarking that Kṛṣṇa seems unusually pleased even though the immediate event is the death of Haiḍimba—i.e., Ghaṭotkaca, the powerful son of Hiḍimbā. For those aligned with him, it is a moment of mourning, and Sañjaya frames Kṛṣṇa’s reaction as occurring at an inappropriate time.