Shloka 51
उद्योगपर्व — अध्याय १४० (कृष्णेन कर्णं प्रति पाण्डवबल-वैशिष्ट्यप्रदर्शनम्) / Udyoga Parva, Chapter 140
Krishna’s appraisal of Pandava advantage and war portents
रुदत्य: सह गान्धार्या श्वगृध्रकुरराकुले । स यज्ञेडस्मिन्नवभूथो भविष्यति जनार्दन
rudatyaḥ saha gāndhāryā śvagṛdhrakurarākule | sa yajñe 'sminn avabhūtho bhaviṣyati janārdana ||
গান্ধারী কাঁদছেন, আর কুকুর, শকুন ও কুরর-পাখিতে ভরা এই কোলাহলময় প্রান্তরে—হে জনার্দন—এটাই হবে এই যজ্ঞের অবভৃথ-স্নান, সমাপ্তির শুদ্ধিস্নান।
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames impending war through ritual metaphor: what is called a ‘sacrifice’ culminates not in sanctity but in a grim ‘avabhṛtha’ amid carrion-birds and mourning. It highlights the ethical cost of violence and the tragic inversion of dharmic ideals when conflict is pursued.
Karna addresses Kṛṣṇa (Janārdana), foreseeing the battlefield’s aftermath: Gāndhārī’s lamentation and a scene swarming with dogs and scavenger birds. He declares that this horrific scene will serve as the ‘concluding bath’ of the figurative sacrifice—i.e., the war’s completion.