Shloka 4

Sauptika Parva, Adhyaya 8 — Dhṛṣṭadyumna-vadha and the Camp’s Nocturnal Rout

Devanagari script

पज्चालैर्निहतौ वीरौ कच्चिन्नास्वपतां क्षितौ | कच्चित्‌ ताभ्यां कृतं कर्म तन्‍्ममाचक्ष्व संजय,वे दोनों वीर पांचालोंके द्वारा मारे जाकर धरतीपर सदाके लिये सो तो नहीं गये? रणभूमिमें मरकर दुर्योधनके ही उत्तम मार्गपर चले तो नहीं गये? क्या उन दोनोंने भी वहाँ कोई पराक्रम किया? संजय! ये सब बातें मुझे बताओ

Transliteration

pañcālair nihatau vīrau kaccin nāsvapatāṃ kṣitau | kaccit tābhyāṃ kṛtaṃ karma tan mamācakṣva sañjaya ||

Translation

Dhṛtarāṣṭra sprach: „Jene beiden Helden — von den Pāñcālas erschlagen — sind sie nicht auf die Erde gesunken, um in endlosen Schlaf zu fallen? Haben sie, auf dem Schlachtfeld sterbend, den ‚guten Pfad‘ erreicht, den Duryodhana für den höchsten hielt? Und welche Tat der Tapferkeit vollbrachten sie dort? Sañjaya, berichte mir dies alles.“

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'pañcālaiḥ', 'definition': 'by the Pāñcālas (the Pañcāla warriors)'}, {'term': 'nihatau', 'definition': 'slain, killed'}, {'term': 'vīrau', 'definition': 'two heroes/warriors'}, {'term': 'kaccit', 'definition': 'whether indeed? (interrogative particle expressing anxious inquiry)'}, {'term': 'na', 'definition': 'not'}, {'term': 'asvapatām', 'definition': 'have they slept? (euphemism for death

• ‘fallen asleep’)'}, {'term': 'kṣitau', 'definition': 'on the earth, on the ground'}, {'term': 'tābhyām', 'definition': 'by those two'}, {'term': 'kṛtam', 'definition': 'done, accomplished'}, {'term': 'karma', 'definition': 'deed, act (here: martial exploit/valor)'}, {'term': 'tat', 'definition': 'that'}, {'term': 'mama', 'definition': 'to me, for me'}, {'term': 'ācakṣva', 'definition': 'tell, relate, explain'}, {'term': 'sañjaya', 'definition': 'Sañjaya (the narrator/counsellor)'}]

Speaker

घतयाट्र उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Dhṛtarāṣṭra
• Sañjaya
• Pāñcālas
• two heroes (vīrau)
• Duryodhana
• earth/ground (kṣiti)
• battlefield (implied)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how, in the aftermath of war, ‘good path’ and ‘honor’ can be framed through partisan ideals: Dhṛtarāṣṭra anxiously measures death and worth by whether the fallen achieved valor and the status of a warrior’s end, revealing the ethical tension between genuine dharma and self-justifying notions of glory.

What is happening in the narrative?

Dhṛtarāṣṭra questions Sañjaya about two Kaurava heroes reportedly slain by the Pāñcālas—whether they are truly dead, whether their death on the battlefield granted them the warrior’s auspicious end, and whether they performed any notable exploit before falling.