Shloka 43

Devanagari script

हारपद्माकरां चैव भूमिरेणूमिमालिनीम्‌ । आर्यवृत्तवतां संख्ये सुतरां भीरुदुस्तराम्‌

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca |

hārapadmākarāṃ caiva bhūmir eṇūmimālinīm |

āryavṛttavatāṃ saṅkhye sutarāṃ bhīrudustarām ||

Translation

Sañjaya sprach: „Die Erde selbst erschien wie ein Lotossee aus Halsketten, dessen Wellen aus aufwallendem Staub bestanden. In jener Schlacht wurde sie der Vaitaraṇī gleich: für Männer von edler Lebensführung leicht zu durchwaten, für die Furchtsamen jedoch überaus schwer zu überschreiten.“

Word by Word

• हार: necklace
• हार: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: हार
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• पद्माकराम्: having a lotus-pond (i.e., like a lotus-lake)
• पद्माकराम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पद्माकर
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

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

• एव: indeed/just
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• भूमिः: the earth/ground
• भूमिः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: भूमि
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• रेणुमिमालिनीम्: adorned with a garland of dust-waves
• रेणुमिमालिनीम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: रेणुमिमालिनी
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• आर्यवृत्तवताम्: of the righteous (men of noble conduct)
• Type: Noun
• Root: आर्यवृत्तवत्
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Plural

• संख्ये: in battle
• संख्ये: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: संख्या
• Form: Feminine, Locative, Singular

• सुतराम्: very/especially
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: सुतराम्

• भीरु: of cowards/timid men
• Type: Noun
• Root: भीरु
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Plural

• दुस्तराम्: hard to cross
• दुस्तराम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: दुस्तर
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Bhūmi (earth/battlefield)
• Vaitaraṇī (implied by the simile in the passage context)
• hāra (necklaces)
• padma (lotus)
• reṇu (dust)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse contrasts inner character under crisis: the same terrifying battlefield becomes ‘crossable’ for those grounded in ārya-vṛtta (noble discipline and courage) but ‘uncrossable’ for the fearful. Ethical steadiness is portrayed as the true means of passage through peril.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya poetically reports the battlefield’s appearance: dust rises in wave-like surges, and the ground seems like a lotus-lake strewn with necklaces—part of the larger depiction of the horrific ‘river’ of slaughter in the Karṇa Parva, likened to the Vaitaraṇī.