Shloka 9

धर्मरहस्योपदेशः

Dharma-rahasya Instruction: Vows, Truth, and Non-injury

Devanagari script

अग्रतो मे कृतो राजा छिन्नसर्वपरिच्छद:

Transliteration

agrato me kṛto rājā chinnasarvaparicchadaḥ

Translation

Sañjaya sprach: „Vor meinen eigenen Augen wurde der König niedergeworfen, aller königlichen Insignien beraubt — sein Glanz und sein Schutz waren hinweggehauen.“

Word by Word

• अग्रतः: in front; ahead
• अग्रतः: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अग्रतस्

• मे: of me; my
• मे: Sampradana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: अस्मद्
• Form: Genitive, Singular

• कृतः: made; placed; done
• कृतः: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: कृ (कृत)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• राजा: king
• राजा: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: राजन्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• छिन्न-सर्व-परिच्छदः: whose entire equipment/attire is cut off
• छिन्न-सर्व-परिच्छदः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: परिच्छद
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• संजय (Sañjaya)
• राजा (the king—contextually Dhṛtarāṣṭra as listener, but the verse itself says only 'the king')

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the fragility of worldly power: royal status depends on external supports (paricchada), which war can sever in an instant. It points to the ethical gravity of conflict—how violence reduces even a ‘king’ to vulnerability, reminding the listener that pride in rank is unstable and subject to karma and circumstance.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra what he is witnessing on the battlefield: a king has been ‘rendered’ in a diminished condition, with all his outward royal trappings cut away—suggesting defeat, humiliation, or the stripping of protective gear and insignia amid the fighting.