Shloka 343

Devanagari script

न तथा तेन तप्यामि यथा राजंस्त्वयाद्य वै “राजन! नीच पाण्डवोंने अत्यन्त क्रूरतापूर्ण कर्मके द्वारा मेरे पिताका वध किया था; परंतु उसके कारण भी मैं उतना संतप्त नहीं हूँ, जैसा कि आज तुम्हारे वधके कारण मुझे कष्ट हो रहा है!

Transliteration

na tathā tena tapyāmi yathā rājan tvayādya vai

Translation

Sañjaya sprach: „O König, nicht so brannte ich vor Kummer wegen jenes Ereignisses, wie ich heute brenne wegen deines Todes. ‘König! Die niederträchtigen Pāṇḍava erschlugen meinen Vater durch eine Tat äußerster Grausamkeit; doch selbst darum war ich nicht so verzweifelt wie heute, da mich dein Tod quält!’“

Word by Word

नnot

तथाthus/so, to that extent

तेनby that (cause/thing)

तप्यामिI am pained / I burn (with grief)

यथाas, in the way/measure that

राजन्O king

त्वयाby you

अद्यtoday/now

वैindeed, surely

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

King (Dhṛtarāṣṭra implied by context)

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 highlights the hierarchy of suffering in human experience: present, intimate loss can outweigh even severe past injuries. It underscores how attachment and responsibility intensify grief, inviting reflection on the ethical cost of war and the personal weight of a ruler’s downfall.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya addresses the king (contextually Dhṛtarāṣṭra) and compares two sources of pain: an earlier calamity versus the immediate anguish caused by the king’s death (or the catastrophe centered on him). Sañjaya emphasizes that today’s loss is the sharper torment.