Shloka 32

Devanagari script

यो हाानस्त्रविदो हन्याद्‌ ब्रह्मास्त्रै: क्रोधमूर्च्छित: । सर्वोपायैर्न स कथं वध्य: पुरुषसत्तम,पुरुषप्रवर! जो क्रोधसे व्याकुल होकर ब्रह्मास्त्र न जाननेवालोंको भी ब्रह्मास्त्रसे ही मार डाले, उसका सभी उपायोंसे वध करना कैसे उचित नहीं है?

Transliteration

yo hānastravido hanyād brahmāstraiḥ krodhamūrcchitaḥ | sarvopāyair na sa kathaṃ vadhyaḥ puruṣasattama puruṣapravara ||

Translation

Dhṛṣṭadyumna sprach: „O Bester der Menschen, wenn jemand, vom Zorn betäubt, sogar jene, die das Brahmāstra nicht kennen, mit Brahmāstras erschlüge, wie könnte es dann unziemlich sein, ihn mit allen nur möglichen Mitteln zu töten?“

Word by Word

यःwho

हindeed

अनस्त्रविदःthose who do not know weapons

हन्यात्should kill / were to kill

ब्रह्मास्त्रैःwith Brahmā-weapons (brahmāstras)

क्रोधमूर्च्छितःfrenzied/overcome by anger

सर्वोपायैःby all means/expedients

नnot

सःhe

कथम्how

वध्यःto be slain / slayable

पुरुषसत्तमO best of men

पुरुषप्रवरO foremost of men

Speaker

धष्टहुम्न उवाच

Characters & Entities

Dhṛṣṭadyumna

Brahmāstra

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames an ethical argument about proportional response in war: a combatant who, blinded by rage, uses the most destructive weaponry against even the untrained violates restraint, and thus is argued to forfeit protection—making his killing by any means defensible within the speaker’s wartime moral logic.

What is happening in the narrative?

Dhṛṣṭadyumna addresses a respected warrior, pressing the case that an enraged fighter who deploys Brahmāstra against those lacking knowledge of such weapons should be treated as ‘vadhya’ (liable to be slain), even through unconventional or comprehensive measures.