Shloka 84

Devanagari script

न पक्षिणो बश्रमुरन्तरिक्षे तदा महास्त्रेण कृतेडन्धकारे

Transliteration

na pakṣiṇo baśramur antarīkṣe tadā mahāstreṇa kṛte 'ndhakāre

Translation

Sañjaya sprach: Als jene mächtige Waffe entfesselt wurde und Finsternis den Himmel überzog, konnten selbst die Vögel sich nicht mehr in der Luft bewegen—so blendend und unheilvoll war die Verdunkelung, die aus dem Einsatz großer astraler Macht im Krieg entstand.

Word by Word

• na: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: na

• pakṣiṇaḥ: birds
• pakṣiṇaḥ: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: pakṣin
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• baśramuḥ: flew/moved (in the sky)
• Type: Verb
• Root: baśramu
• Form: Perfect (Liṭ), 3rd, Plural

• antarikṣe: in the sky/atmosphere
• antarikṣe: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: antarikṣa
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• tadā: then
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tadā

• mahāstreṇa: by a great weapon
• mahāstreṇa: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: mahāstra
• Form: Neuter, Instrumental, Singular

• kṛte: when made/when produced
• Type: Verb
• Root: kṛ
• Form: Past passive participle (kta), Neuter, Locative, Singular

• andhakāre: in darkness
• andhakāre: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: andhakāra
• Form: Masculine, Locative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• संजय (Sañjaya)
• महास्त्र (mahāstra)
• पक्षिणः (birds)
• अन्तरीक्ष (the sky/mid-air)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how the deployment of overwhelming weapons in war can disturb the natural order and create terror beyond the battlefield, implicitly raising ethical concern about the use of destructive power that blinds and disorients all beings.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes the immediate effect of a great astra: darkness fills the sky so completely that even birds cannot fly in the air, signaling a frightening, unnatural condition produced by the weapon’s force.