Shloka 16
“लक्ष्मण! इस संसारको अच्छी तरह देख लो। अब शीघ्र ही परलोककी यात्रा करोगे। इन बान्धव-जनोंके देखते-देखते मैं तुम्हें यमलोक पहुँचाये देता हूँ” ।। एवमुक्त्वा ततो भल्लं सौभद्र: परवीरहा । उद्धबर्ह महाबाहुर्निर्मुक्तोरगसंनिभम्,ऐसा कहकर शत्रुवीरोंका संहार करनेवाले महाबाहु सुभद्राकुमारने केंचुलसे निकले हुए सर्पके समान एक भल्लको तरकससे निकाला
sañjaya uvāca | “lakṣmaṇa! imaṃ saṃsāraṃ samyag avalokaya | adya tvaṃ śīghram eva paralokasya yātrāṃ kariṣyasi | eṣāṃ bāndhava-janānāṃ paśyatāṃ paśyatāṃ tvāṃ yama-lokaṃ prāpayāmi” || evam uktvā tato bhallaṃ saubhadraḥ para-vīra-hā | uddhṛtya bāhuḥ mahābāhur nirmuktoraga-sannibham ||
Sañjaya sprach: „Lakṣmaṇa, sieh diese Welt genau an. Bald wirst du die Reise ins Jenseits antreten. Vor den Augen deiner Verwandten werde ich dich in Yamas Reich senden.“ So sprechend zog der mächtigarmige Sohn der Subhadrā—Bezwinger feindlicher Helden—einen bhalla-Pfeil aus dem Köcher, glänzend wie eine Schlange, die eben ihre Haut abgestreift hat.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse contrasts saṃsāra (the fragile, transient world) with paraloka (the afterlife), using the battlefield as a setting where kṣatriya-dharma frames death as an imminent passage. Ethically, it shows how martial duty and vengeance can harden speech into a death-sending taunt, reminding readers that power and life are momentary and accountable to cosmic order symbolized by Yama.
A warrior addresses Lakṣmaṇa with a grim warning that he will be sent to Yama’s realm before his relatives’ eyes. Immediately after this threat, Saubhadra (Abhimanyu) draws a bhalla arrow from his quiver, compared to a snake slipping out of its skin, signaling the next lethal action in the combat.