Shloka 44

कर्णेन व्यूहविधानम् — Karṇa’s Battle Formation and the Pāṇḍava Counter-Plan

Adhyāya 31

Devanagari script

तेभ्यो वर्णविशेषाश्व॒ प्रतिलोमानुलोमजा:

Transliteration

tebhyo varṇa-viśeṣāś ca pratilomānulomajāḥ

Translation

Aus ihnen entstehen ferner weitere, unterschiedliche gesellschaftliche Einteilungen, hervorgegangen aus Verbindungen sowohl wider die anerkannte Ordnung der varṇa als auch gemäß ihr.

Word by Word

• तेभ्यः: from them
• तेभ्यः: Apadana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: masculine/neuter, ablative/dative, plural

• वर्णविशेषाः: distinct classes/varṇa-distinctions
• वर्णविशेषाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: वर्णविशेष
• Form: masculine, nominative, plural

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• प्रतिलोमानुलोमजाः: born of pratiloma and anuloma (unions)
• प्रतिलोमानुलोमजाः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: प्रतिलोमानुलोमज
• Form: masculine, nominative, plural

Speaker

शल्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Śalya

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames how society classifies people based on birth from unions deemed 'in-order' (anuloma) or 'against-order' (pratiloma), highlighting the ethical tension between rigid social norms and the complex realities of human relationships and lineage.

What is happening in the narrative?

Śalya is speaking and describing the emergence of various social subgroups (varṇa-viśeṣa) as consequences of different kinds of inter-varṇa unions, using this as part of a broader argumentative discourse in the Karṇa Parva.