Shloka 36

Yuddha-yajña-vyākhyāna (The Battle as Sacrifice): Ambarīṣa–Indra Saṃvāda

Devanagari script

वेदिर्यस्य त्वमित्राणां शिरोभ्यश्न प्रकीर्यते

Transliteration

vedir yasya tvamitrāṇāṃ śirobhyaśna prakīryate

Translation

Ambarīṣa sprach: „Du bist der Opferaltar für deine Feinde — auf den Häuptern jener Gegner wirst du ausgestreut und aufgehäuft, als würde das Ritual ihres Untergangs vollzogen.“

Word by Word

• वेदीः: altar (as the subject)
• वेदीः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: वेदी
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• यस्य: whose
• यस्य: Adhikarana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: यद्
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Genitive, Singular

• त्वम्: you
• त्वम्: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: युष्मद्
• Form: —, Nominative, Singular

• मित्राणाम्: of friends
• मित्राणाम्: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: मित्र
• Form: Neuter, Genitive, Plural

• शिरोभ्यः: from (their) heads
• शिरोभ्यः: Apadana
• Type: Noun
• Root: शिरस्
• Form: Neuter, Ablative, Plural

• अश्न: eat / consume
• अश्न: Karma
• Type: Verb
• Root: अश्
• Form: Imperative (Lot), 2nd, Singular

• प्रकीर्यते: is scattered / is strewn
• प्रकीर्यते: Karma
• Type: Verb
• Root: प्र + कृ
• Form: Present (Lat), 3rd, Singular, Passive (Karmani)

Speaker

अम्बरीष उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Ambarīṣa
• enemies (amitra)
• altar (vedi)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse uses sacrificial imagery to express moral consequence: hostility and wrongdoing culminate in a fitting downfall, as though justice itself performs a grim ‘rite’ upon the aggressor’s head. It frames retribution not as mere violence but as an ordered outcome within a dharmic worldview.

What is happening in the narrative?

Ambarīṣa addresses another party with a sharp metaphor, likening that person to an altar on which enemies are ‘strewn’—suggesting the speaker is describing (or foretelling) the crushing defeat of foes and emphasizing the inevitability of their ruin.