Shloka 16

Devanagari script

दुःखं नूनं कृतान्तस्य गतिं ज्ञातुं कथंचन । लोकानां च भवान्‌ यत्र शेषे पांसुषु रूषित:,“निश्चय ही काल और लोकोंकी गतिको जानना किसी प्रकार भी कठिन ही है, जिसके अधीन होकर आप धूलमें सने हुए पड़े हैं

Transliteration

duḥkhaṃ nūnaṃ kṛtāntasya gatiṃ jñātuṃ kathaṃcana | lokānāṃ ca bhavān yatra śeṣe pāṃsuṣu rūṣitaḥ ||

Translation

Sañjaya sprach: „Wahrlich, es ist schmerzlich; und in der Tat ist es auf jede Weise überaus schwer, den von Tod (Zeit) verordneten Lauf und die Geschicke der Wesen zu begreifen. Denn unter eben jener Macht liegst du nun am Ende, erzürnt, den Leib mit Staub beschmiert.“

Word by Word

दुःखम्sorrow, misery

नूनम्surely, indeed

कृतान्तस्यof Death (Yama), of the end-maker

गतिम्course, movement, destiny

ज्ञातुम्to know

कथंचनin any way, somehow

लोकानाम्of worlds/people

चand

भवान्you (honorific)

यत्रwhere

शेषेyou lie/remain

पांसुषुin the dust

रूषितःangered, enraged

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

स

संजय (Sañjaya)

क

कृतान्त (Kṛtānta—Death/Time)

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 underscores the inscrutability of fate/time (kṛtānta) and the destinies of beings: even the mighty are brought down, and human understanding cannot fully grasp the hidden course by which death and time govern outcomes.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya, narrating the battlefield aftermath, laments that the listener now lies fallen—dust-covered and embittered—highlighting how the power of Time/Death has reduced a great person to a helpless end.