Shloka 52

अध्याय ९ — दुर्योधनस्य अन्त्यावस्था, विलापः, तथा सौप्तिक-प्रतिवृत्तम्

Duryodhana’s Final Condition, Lamentation, and the Night’s Report

Devanagari script

मया च पापकर्मासौ धृष्टद्युम्नो महीपते । प्रविश्य शिबिरं रात्रौ पशुमारेण मारित:,'भूपाल! मैंने स्वयं रातके समय शिविरमें घुसकर पापाचारी धृष्टद्युम्मको पशुओंकी तरह गला घोंट-घोंटकर मार डाला है”

Transliteration

mayā ca pāpakarmāsau dhṛṣṭadyumno mahīpate | praviśya śibiraṃ rātrau paśumāreṇa māritaḥ ||

Translation

Sañjaya sagte: „O König, auch ich — nachdem ich nachts in das Lager eingedrungen war — tötete Dhṛṣṭadyumna, den Täter sündiger Werke, indem ich ihn wie ein Tier erwürgte.“

Word by Word

मयाby me

चand

पापकर्माevil-doing, sinful in deeds

असौthat (man)

धृष्टद्युम्नःDhrishtadyumna

महीपतेO king (lord of the earth)

प्रविश्यhaving entered

शिबिरम्the camp

रात्रौat night

पशुमारेणby a beast-slaying method / like slaughtering an animal

मारितःkilled

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Dhṛṣṭadyumna

Mahīpati (the king addressed, i.e., Dhṛtarāṣṭra)

Śibira (military camp)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the ethical collapse that accompanies revenge-driven violence: killing a foe at night inside a camp, by a method likened to animal slaughter, is framed as morally tainted (pāpakarma) and stands in tension with ideals of righteous warfare.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sanjaya reports to the king that Dhṛṣṭadyumna has been killed during the nocturnal incursion into the Pāṇḍava camp—described as entering at night and killing him by strangling, ‘like an animal,’ emphasizing the brutality of the act.