Shloka 28

Devanagari script

अनृतं तत्‌ करिष्यन्ति मामका निशिता: शरा: । उद्योग: पाण्डुपुत्राणां समाप्तिमुपयास्यति

Transliteration

anṛtaṃ tat kariṣyanti māmakā niśitāḥ śarāḥ | udyogaḥ pāṇḍuputrāṇāṃ samāptim upayāsyati ||

Translation

Sañjaya sprach: „Meine scharfen Pfeile werden jenen Anspruch zur Lüge machen; das kriegerische Unternehmen der Söhne Pāṇḍus wird an sein Ende gelangen.“

Word by Word

• {'anṛtam': 'falsehood

• untrue statement', 'tat': 'that (claim/statement)', 'kariṣyanti': 'will make

• will render (to be)', 'māmakāḥ': 'my

• belonging to me', 'niśitāḥ': 'sharpened

• keen-edged', 'śarāḥ': 'arrows', 'udyogaḥ': 'effort

• martial enterprise', 'pāṇḍuputrāṇām': 'of the sons of Pāṇḍu (the Pāṇḍavas)', 'samāptim': 'completion

• termination', 'upayāsyati': 'will approach

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Karṇa
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s sons (Kauravas)
• Pāṇḍu’s sons (Pāṇḍavas)
• arrows (śarāḥ)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the moral tension between confident speech and reality: proud assurances and self-praise can be exposed as untrue when tested by action. It also underscores how, in war, outcomes are decided not by claims but by capability, resolve, and the unfolding of destiny.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports a battlefield assertion that Karṇa’s earlier promise to safeguard Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s sons will be disproved. The speaker declares that his keen arrows will negate that claim and bring the Pāṇḍavas’ martial undertaking to an end.