Shloka 276

Devanagari script

यत्र क्रीडितमस्माभिस्तदा राजन्‌ समागतै: । “राजकुमार! कौरवनरेश! न तो यह सभा है और न आचार्यका घर ही है जहाँ एकत्र होकर हम सब लोग खेला करते थे”

Transliteration

yatra krīḍitam asmābhis tadā rājan samāgataiḥ |

Translation

Sañjaya sprach: „O König, dies ist nicht jene Versammlungshalle und auch nicht das Haus des Lehrers, wo wir Fürstensöhne einst zusammenkamen und in unbeschwerter Gemeinschaft spielten. Was vor uns liegt, gehört einer anderen Ordnung an—einer, in der die Bande der Jugend und der Verwandtschaft von den harten Forderungen von Krieg und Pflicht verdunkelt worden sind.“

Word by Word

यत्रwhere

क्रीडितम्played (was played)

अस्माभिःby us

तदाthen, at that time

राजन्O king

समागतैःhaving assembled, gathered

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by rājan)

sabha (assembly hall, implied in the contextual gloss)

ācārya-gṛha (teacher’s house, implied in the contextual gloss)

rājakumāra (princes, implied in the contextual gloss)

Kaurava king (implied in the contextual gloss)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse contrasts youthful fellowship with the present gravity of war, implying an ethical warning: when dharma is neglected, even shared upbringing and sacred spaces of learning and play cannot prevent kin from turning into enemies.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya addresses the king, evoking the past—when the princes gathered to play in the assembly hall or at the teacher’s residence—to underscore how far the situation has shifted from camaraderie to the harsh reality of the Kurukṣetra conflict.