Shloka 19

Devanagari script

यस्य चैतद्‌ व्रतं महां वधे किल दुरात्मन: । पादौ न धावये तावद्‌ यावद्धन्यां न फाल्गुनम्‌,“मधुसूदन! जिस दुरात्माने मेरे वधके लिये यह व्रत लिया है कि जबतक अर्जुनको मार न लूंगा, तबतक दूसरोंसे पैर न धुलाऊँगा। उस पापीके इस व्रतको मिथ्या करके झुकी हुई गाँठवाले बाणोंद्वारा उसके इस शरीरको रथसे नीचे गिरा दूँगा

Transliteration

yasya caitad vrataṁ mahān vadhe kila durātmanaḥ | pādau na dhāvaye tāvad yāvaddhanyāṁ na phālgunam ||

Translation

Sañjaya sprach: „Jener Bösewicht hat, wie es scheint, ein großes Gelübde zu meiner Tötung abgelegt: ‚Ich werde meine Füße nicht waschen, bis ich Phālguna (Arjuna) erschlagen habe.‘ Ich werde das Gelübde dieses Sünders zunichtemachen und ihn mit Pfeilen, deren Knoten gebogen sind, vom Streitwagen herabstürzen.“

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'vratam', 'definition': 'a vow

• a solemn resolve undertaken for a specific aim'}, {'term': 'mahān', 'definition': 'great

• formidable'}, {'term': 'vadhe', 'definition': 'in (the matter of) killing

• for the slaying (locative of purpose/context)'}, {'term': 'durātmanaḥ', 'definition': 'of the wicked-minded one

• of the evil person'}, {'term': 'pādau', 'definition': 'feet (dual)'}, {'term': 'dhāvaye', 'definition': 'I shall wash/cleanse (causative/denominative sense: to have washed)'}, {'term': 'tāvat ... yāvat', 'definition': 'until ... as long as (correlative construction)'}, {'term': 'phālgunam', 'definition': 'Phālguna, i.e., Arjuna'}, {'term': 'dhan(y)ām', 'definition': 'I shall kill/slay (contextual sense

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Phālguna (Arjuna)
• chariot
• arrows (bent-knot type, implied by the Hindi gloss)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how vows (vrata) in war can become instruments of ego and cruelty; a vow aimed at unrighteous killing is portrayed as morally tainted, and the narrative frames its ‘breaking’ as a form of ethical counteraction against adharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports a warrior’s fierce resolve: an enemy has vowed not to wash his feet until he kills Arjuna (Phālguna). The speaker declares an intention to invalidate that vow by defeating him—described (in the accompanying tradition/gloss) as striking him with special arrows and throwing him down from his chariot.