Shloka 8

Devanagari script

तमःसंवृतमप्यासीत्‌ सर्व जगदिदं तथा । न दिशो नादिशो राजन प्रज्ञायन्ते सम रेणुना,राजन! यह सारा संसार धूलके कारण अन्धकारसे आच्छन्न-सा हो गया। कौन दिशा है, कौन दिशा नहीं है--इसका ज्ञान नहीं हो पाता था

Transliteration

tamaḥsaṃvṛtam apy āsīt sarvaṃ jagad idaṃ tathā | na diśo nādiśo rājan prajñāyante sama-reṇunā ||

Translation

হে ৰাজন! ধূলি সমানকৈ সকলোফালে উঠি পৰাত এই সমগ্ৰ জগত অন্ধকাৰত আচ্ছন্ন যেন হ’ল। কোনটো দিশ আৰু কোনটো অদিশ—সেয়াও বুজা নাযায়।

Word by Word

तमःdarkness

संवृतम्covered, enveloped

अपिalso, even

आसीत्was

सर्वम्entire, all

जगत्world

इदम्this

तथाthus, in that way

नnot

दिशःdirections (quarters)

नnor

अदिशःnon-directions, indistinct quarters

राजन्O king

प्रज्ञायन्तेwere perceived / become known

समम्equally, uniformly

रेणुनाby dust

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

rājan (the King, i.e., Janamejaya as addressee)

reṇu (dust)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

When conflict and agitation spread everywhere, discernment (the ability to distinguish right direction from wrong) is lost; the verse uses physical darkness and dust as a moral-psychological metaphor for confusion that precedes destructive action.

What is happening in the narrative?

The narrator describes a scene where dust fills the air so uniformly that darkness seems to cover the world, making it impossible to tell directions—an atmospheric sign of escalating turmoil in the Udyoga Parva context.