Shloka 256

अध्याय ३: कृपस्य दुर्योधनं प्रति नीत्युपदेशः

Kṛpa’s Counsel to Duryodhana

Devanagari script

न्यवधीत्‌ तावकान्‌ सर्वान्‌ दण्डपाणिरिवान्तक: । उन्होंने दण्डपाणि यमराजके समान सुवर्णपत्रसे जटित विशाल गदा लेकर उसके द्वारा आपके समस्त सैनिकोंका संहार आरम्भ किया

Transliteration

nyavadhīt tāvakān sarvān daṇḍapāṇir ivāntakaḥ |

Translation

Sañjaya sprach: Er begann all deine Truppen niederzumetzeln, wie Antaka, der Tod selbst, als trüge er den Stab der Strafe. Mit einer gewaltigen Keule, mit Goldblättern geschmückt, gleich Yama, dem Daṇḍapāṇi, setzte er zur Vernichtung all deiner Soldaten an.

Word by Word

न्यवधीत्slew, killed

तावकान्your (men), your side's (warriors)

सर्वान्all

दण्डपाणिःthe staff-in-hand one (Yama)

इवlike, as

अन्तकःDeath (Yama)

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied addressee by 'tāvakān')

Antaka (Death/Yama)

Daṇḍa (rod/staff of punishment)

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 frames battlefield killing as resembling the work of Antaka (Death), highlighting the moral gravity and inevitability of destruction in war; it suggests that violence, once unleashed, functions like impersonal punishment and fate rather than mere personal heroism.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that a warrior (contextually, the opposing side’s champion) begins the slaughter of Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s forces, compared to Death himself wielding the punitive staff.