Shloka 28

कर्णपर्व — अध्याय ४०

Karṇa’s Pressure on the Pāñcālas; Duryodhana Disabled; Arjuna’s Counter-Advance

Devanagari script

अवडीनं प्रडीनं च संडीनं डीनडीनकम्‌ | संडीनोड्डीनडीनं च पुनर्डीनविडीनकम्‌

Transliteration

avaḍīnaṃ praḍīnaṃ ca saṃḍīnaṃ dīna-dīnakam | saṃḍīnoḍḍīna-dīnaṃ ca punar dīna-viḍīnakam

Translation

„Es fällt, dann fällt es noch tiefer; es sinkt und wird immer elender. Wieder sinkt es, dann wird es emporgeworfen und elend gemacht; und abermals wird es elend und hinabgestürzt.“

Word by Word

• अवडीनम्: ‘ava-ḍīna’ (a coined/onomatopoetic item/name), object
• अवडीनम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: अवडीन
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• प्रडीनम्: ‘pra-ḍīna’ (coined/onomatopoetic item/name), object
• प्रडीनम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्रडीन
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

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

• संडीनम्: ‘saṇ-ḍīna’ (coined/onomatopoetic item/name), object
• संडीनम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: संडीन
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• डीनडीनकम्: ‘ḍīna-ḍīna-ka’ (coined/onomatopoetic diminutive), object
• डीनडीनकम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: डीनडीनक
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• संडीन: ‘saṇḍīna’ (coined/onomatopoetic item/name), subject
• संडीन: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: संडीन
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• उड्डीनडीनम्: ‘uḍḍīna-ḍīna’ (coined/onomatopoetic item/name), object
• उड्डीनडीनम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: उड्डीनडीन
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

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

• पुनः: again
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: पुनः

• डीनविडीनकम्: ‘ḍīna-vi-ḍīna-ka’ (coined/onomatopoetic item/name), object
• डीनविडीनकम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: डीनविडीनक
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

Speaker

काक उवाच

Characters & Entities

• काक (crow)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse functions less as a doctrinal maxim and more as an evocative warning: repeated moral and material decline leads to compounding misery. In the war context, it underscores the atmosphere of distress and the sense that adharma-driven conflict produces escalating suffering.

What is happening in the narrative?

A crow is presented as speaking in a sound-heavy, repetitive sequence of words. The utterance conveys a rhythm of falling, sinking, and renewed wretchedness—suggestive of an ominous or lamenting cry within the Karṇa Parva’s battlefield narrative.