Shloka 12
Śalya’s Consecration as Senāpati and Kṛṣṇa’s Counsel to Yudhiṣṭhira (शल्यस्य सेनापत्यभिषेकः)
सुवृत्तोरुकटीजड्घं सुपादं स्वड्गुलीनखम् | स्मृत्वा स्मृत्वैव तु गुणान् धात्रा यत्नाद् विनिर्मितम्
suvṛttorukaṭījaḍghaṃ supādaṃ svaṅgulīnakhām | smṛtvā smṛtvaiva tu guṇān dhātrā yatnād vinirmitām
Sañjaya sprach: „Sie hatte wohlgerundete Schenkel, breite Hüften und feste Unterschenkel; ihre Füße waren schön, mit feinen Zehen und Nägeln. Wenn man ihre Vorzüge immer wieder bedenkt, meint man, der Schöpfer habe sie mit bedachter Sorgfalt geformt.“
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links outer beauty with inner excellence: repeated remembrance of a person’s guṇas (virtues) deepens admiration beyond mere appearance, and frames excellence as something aligned with dhātṛ (providential order), encouraging reverence for cultivated virtue amid the harshness of war.
Sañjaya describes an admired woman (implied from context) by detailing her graceful physical features and then emphasizing that her virtues, recalled again and again, make her seem as though the Creator carefully fashioned her—an encomium that heightens emotional and ethical contrast within the war narrative.