Shloka 37

Aśvatthāman’s Arrow-Screen and the Confrontation with Yudhiṣṭhira (द्रौणि–युधिष्ठिर-संग्रामः)

Devanagari script

यास्तिष्ठन्त्य: प्रमेहन्ति यथैवोष्टदशेरका: । तासां विश्रष्टधर्माणां निर्लज्जानां ततस्ततः

Transliteration

yās tiṣṭhantyaḥ pramehanti yathaivōṣṭa-daśerakāḥ | tāsāṃ viśraṣṭa-dharmāṇāṃ nirlajjānāṃ tatastataḥ

Translation

Karna sprach: „Jene Frauen, die im Stehen urinieren—wie Kamelstuten—sind Menschen, deren Sinn für Schicklichkeit zerfallen ist. Schamlos und sittlich haltlos verhalten sie sich so an jedem Ort und zu jeder Zeit.“

Word by Word

याःwho (those women) / which

तिष्ठन्त्यःstanding

प्रमेहन्तिurinate / pass urine

यथाjust as

एवindeed / exactly

उष्टदशेरकाःcamels (lit. uṣṭa-daśeraka, a camel-kind)

तासाम्of those (women)

विश्रष्टधर्माणाम्of those whose dharma/conduct has fallen away

निर्लज्जानाम्of the shameless

ततःthereupon / from there

ततःagain/then; here: here and there

Speaker

कर्ण उवाच

Characters & Entities

Karna

female camels (uṣṭa-daśerakāḥ)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames dharma as including modesty and socially regulated conduct; it condemns shamelessness (nirlajjatā) and presents loss of propriety (viśraṣṭa-dharma) as a moral failing expressed through outward behavior.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Karna’s speech, he uses a harsh simile (female camels) to denounce certain women as shameless and fallen from dharma, employing moral invective as part of the broader polemical exchanges within the war-time narrative.