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Shloka 159

Ulūka’s Provocative Envoy-Speech in the Pāṇḍava Camp

Ulūka-dūta-vākya

Devanagari script

इति श्रीमहाभारते उद्योगपर्वणि सैन्यनिर्याणपर्वणि संजयवाक्ये एकोनषष्ट्यधिकशततमो<ध्याय:

Transliteration

iti śrīmahābhārate udyogaparvaṇi sainyaniryāṇaparvaṇi sañjayavākye ekonaṣaṣṭyadhikaśatatamo 'dhyāyaḥ

Translation

So endet im ehrwürdigen Mahābhārata, im Udyoga Parva—insbesondere im Abschnitt über den Aufbruch und Marsch der Heere—das hundertneunundfünfzigste Kapitel, bestehend aus Sañjayas Bericht. Dieses Kolophon markiert den Abschluss einer Erzähleinheit und betont den formalen Übergang: Der Konflikt wendet sich von Rat und Vorbereitung dem offenen Krieg zu.

Word by Word

इतिthus; end-quote marker

श्रीमहाभारतेin the revered Mahabharata

उद्योगपर्वणिin the Udyoga-parvan

सैन्यनिर्याणपर्वणिin the (sub-)parvan called 'Departure of the Army'

संजयवाक्येin the speech of Sañjaya

एकोनषष्ट्यधिकशततमःthe 159th

अध्यायःchapter

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Mahābhārata

Udyoga Parva

Sainyaniryāṇa Parva

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

This is a colophon rather than a doctrinal verse: it teaches attentiveness to textual framing—how epic narration formally signals closure and transition. Ethically, it highlights that the phase of deliberation and mobilization is concluding, implying that choices made in counsel now harden into consequences on the battlefield.

What is happening in the narrative?

The chapter concludes. The text identifies the larger book (Udyoga Parva), the internal section (the mobilization/departure of armies), and the speaker (Sañjaya), and then marks that this is the 159th chapter—functioning as an editorial/narrative boundary before the next unit begins.