Shloka 7
Saṃśaptaka-Varūthinī Saṅgrāma — Binding and Counter-Binding (संशप्तक-वरूथिनी-संग्रामः)
अन््य॑ वास्मै पुनर्दद्यां सौवर्ण हस्तिषड्गवम् । तथाप्यस्मै पुनर्दद्यां सत्रीणां शतमलंकृतम्
anyaṁ vā asmai punar dadyāṁ sauvarṇa-hasti-ṣaḍgavam | tathāpy asmai punar dadyāṁ sa-strīṇāṁ śatam alaṅkṛtam ||
Sañjaya sprach: „Oder auch: Ich gäbe ihm einen goldenen Elefanten und sechs Kühe; und dennoch gäbe ich ihm abermals hundert Frauen, reich geschmückt.“
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the rhetoric of lavish gifting—royal wealth (gold, cattle, attendants) is presented as a means to honor, persuade, or secure allegiance. Ethically, it points to the tension between material inducement and principled choice (dharma), a recurring concern in the war narrative.
Sañjaya reports an offer framed in escalating generosity: first a golden elephant and six cows, and then—still not satisfied—an additional gift of a hundred richly adorned women. The statement functions as a depiction of extraordinary inducements being proposed in the context of the conflict.