Mahabharata 7.1.10 — Drona Parva, Adhyaya 1, Shloka 10

द्रोणपर्व (अध्याय १) — भीष्मनिधनानन्तरं धृतराष्ट्रस्य शोकः, सेनायाः स्थितिः, कर्णस्मरणं च

Droṇa Parva, Chapter 1: Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s grief after Bhīṣma’s fall and the army’s reorientation toward Karṇa

Devanagari script

कि नु स्वित्‌ कुरवो5कार्षु्निमग्ना: शोकसागरे,उन दुर्धर्ष वीर महात्मा भीष्मके मारे जानेपर तो समस्त कुरुवंशी शोकके समुद्रमें डूब गये होंगे; फिर उन्होंने कौन-सा कार्य किया?

Transliteration

ki nu svit kuravo 'kārṣur nimagnāḥ śokasāgare | anudharṣa vīra mahātmā bhīṣmake māre jāne para to samasta kuruvaṃśī śokake samudrameṃ ḍūba gaye hoṅge; phira unhoṃne kaun-sā kārya kiyā? ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana sprach: „Als der unbezwingbare Held, der großherzige Bhīṣma, erschlagen wurde, muss das Kuru-Geschlecht in einen Ozean der Trauer versunken sein. In diesem überwältigenden Kummer — welchen Weg des Handelns schlugen sie ein?“

Word by Word

• किम्: what
• किम्: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: किम्
• Form: neuter, nominative/accusative, singular

• नु: indeed/then (interrogative particle)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: नु

• स्वित्: perhaps (in questions)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: स्वित्

• कुरवः: the Kurus
• कुरवः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: कुरु
• Form: masculine, nominative, plural

• अकार्षुः: did/performed
• Type: Verb
• Root: कृ
• Form: aorist (luṅ), 3rd, plural, parasmaipada

• निमग्नाः: sunk/immersed
• Type: Adjective
• Root: निमग्न
• Form: masculine, nominative, plural

• शोक-सागरे: in the ocean of grief
• शोक-सागरे: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: शोकसागर
• Form: masculine, locative, singular

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Kurus (Kaurava lineage)
• Bhīṣma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how collective sorrow after the fall of a righteous elder tests a community’s steadiness and dharmic judgment: grief is natural, yet leaders must still choose a course of action that shapes the moral direction of the war.

What is happening in the narrative?

After Bhīṣma’s fall, the narrator frames the Kurus as overwhelmed by grief and asks what they did next—setting up the transition of command and strategy that leads into the events of Droṇa Parva.