Shloka 37

उद्योगपर्व अध्याय १३३ — संजये मातृउपदेशः

Udyoga Parva Adhyaya 133 — A Mother’s Counsel to Saṃjaya

Devanagari script

पूर्व: पूर्वतरै: प्रोक्ते परै: परतरैरपि । शाश्व॒तं चाव्ययं चैव प्रजापतिविनिर्मितम्‌

Transliteration

pūrvaḥ pūrvataraiḥ prokte paraiḥ paratarair api | śāśvataṃ cāvyayaṃ caiva prajāpati-vinirmitaṃ svayaṃ vidhātānaṃ |

Translation

Die Früheren sprachen davon, und auch die noch Früheren; die Späteren werden davon sprechen, und auch die noch Späteren. Es ist ewig und unwandelbar, von Prajāpati geschaffen, aus sich selbst hervorgegangen und durch sich selbst getragen. Jenen zeitlosen und erhabenen Kṣatriya-Geist—das Herz des edlen Kriegers, standhaft im Dharma—kenne ich.

Word by Word

• {'pūrvaḥ': 'the ancient one

• the primordial (person/principle)', 'pūrvataraiḥ': 'by those more ancient

• by earlier elders', 'prokte': 'spoken of

• taught', 'paraiḥ': 'by later people

• by successors', 'parataraiḥ': 'by those even later

• by still later generations', 'api': 'also

• even', 'śāśvatam': 'eternal

• everlasting', 'avyayam': 'imperishable

• undecaying', 'ca ... eva': 'and indeed

• and also', 'prajāpati-vinirmitam': 'fashioned/created by Prajāpati (the Lord of creatures)', 'svayam': 'by oneself

• self-', 'vidhātānam': 'the ordainer

Speaker

पुत्र उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Prajāpati
• Vidhātṛ (the Ordainer)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse affirms an eternal, imperishable principle/person recognized across generations of sages and upheld as the true foundation of righteous kṣatriya resolve—steadfastness in dharma grounded in what is timeless rather than merely expedient.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Udyoga Parva’s counsel-laden setting before war, the speaker (the son) invokes an ancient, universally attested authority—eternal and divinely ordained—to validate a moral stance and the ideal of the noble warrior’s heart aligned with dharma.