Shloka 213
आजानेयैस्तथा यात॑ को नु स्वन्ततरो मया । “बड़े-बड़े राजाओंपर हुक्म चलाया, अत्यन्त दुर्लभ सम्मान प्राप्त किया तथा आजानेय (अरबी) घोड़ोंपर सवारी की, मुझसे अच्छा अन्त और किसका हुआ होगा?
ājāneyais tathā yātaḥ ko nu svantataro mayā |
Sañjaya sprach: „Ich ritt erlesene ājāneya-Pferde und übte Herrschaft über große Könige aus, gewann Ehren, die schwer zu erringen sind — wer, wahrlich, hätte ein besseres Ende finden können als ich?“
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral tension between worldly achievement (power, prestige, luxury) and the true measure of a ‘good end.’ It implicitly questions whether external honors can justify self-satisfaction at life’s close, especially amid the ethical devastation of war.
Sañjaya voices a reflective, self-justifying thought: he recalls having commanded great kings, received rare honors, and ridden excellent horses, and then asks rhetorically who could have had a better end than his—framing a moment of evaluation of one’s life by worldly standards.