Shloka 23

Devanagari script

ईदृशो लोकथधर्मो<यं धात्रा निर्दिष्ट उच्यते । विनाश: सर्वभूतानां कालपर्यायमागत:,“मित्रो! इस मर्त्यलोकका ऐसा ही धर्म (नियम) है। विधाताने ही इसका निर्देश किया है, ऐसा कहा जाता है; इसलिये कालक्रमसे एक-न-एक दिन सम्पूर्ण प्राणियोंके विनाशकी घड़ी आ ही जाती है

Transliteration

īdṛśo lokadharmo 'yaṃ dhātrā nirdiṣṭa ucyate | vināśaḥ sarvabhūtānāṃ kālaparyāyam āgataḥ ||

Translation

Sañjaya sprach: „Freunde! So ist das Gesetz (Dharma) dieser sterblichen Welt; man sagt, der Schöpfer selbst habe es bestimmt. Darum kommt im Lauf der Zeit die Stunde der Vernichtung unausweichlich über alle Lebewesen.“

Word by Word

ईदृशःsuch, of this kind

लोकधर्मःthe law/nature of the world

अयम्this

धात्राby the Creator/Ordainer

निर्दिष्टःappointed, prescribed

उच्यतेis said

विनाशःdestruction

सर्वभूतानाम्of all beings

कालपर्यायम्the course/turn of time

आगतःhaving come, arrived

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Dhātṛ (the Creator/Ordainer)

Kāla (Time/Death)

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 teaches the inevitability of mortality: the world’s order (lokadharma) is such that, as ordained by the Creator, time (kāla) eventually brings destruction to all beings. It frames death not as an anomaly but as a universal rule.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya, narrating events to Dhṛtarāṣṭra in the Shalya Parva war setting, pauses to state a reflective principle: amid the devastation of battle, the coming of death is presented as the natural, time-driven course decreed by the cosmic order.