Shloka 2736

अश्रमवासिनां विषादः — Lament in Hastināpura after the Elders’ Forest Withdrawal

Devanagari script

घातिता पृथिवी येन सहया सनरद्विपा । पापपूर्ण विचार रखनेवाले उस दुर्योधनने निरपराध पाण्डवोंको सताया तथा घोड़ों, मनुष्यों और हाथियोंसहित इस सारी पृथ्वीके वीरोंका विनाश करा डाला

Transliteration

ghātitā pṛthivī yena sahayā sanaradvipā | pāpapūrṇa-vicāra-rakheṇavāle usa duryodhanena niraparādha-pāṇḍavān satāyā tathā ghoḍoṃ, manuṣyoṃ aura hāthiyoṃ-sahita isa sārī pṛthivīke vīroṃkā vināśa karā ḍālā |

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: By him the earth was made a slaughter-ground—together with its horses, men, and elephants. That Duryodhana, whose mind was filled with sinful designs, harassed the blameless Pāṇḍavas and brought about the destruction of the heroes of the whole world.

Word by Word

• घातिता: caused to be destroyed / slain
• घातिता: Karma
• Type: Verb
• Root: घातित (घातयति < √हन्)
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular, Passive (past participle sense)

• पृथिवी: the earth
• पृथिवी: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: पृथिवी
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• येन: by whom
• येन: Karana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: यद्
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Instrumental, Singular

• सहया: together with
• सहया: Karana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: सह (सह + या)

• सनरद्विपा: with men and elephants (and horses implied by context)
• सनरद्विपा: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: नर + द्विप
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Duryodhana
• Pāṇḍavas
• Earth (Pṛthivī)
• Horses
• Men (Naras)
• Elephants (Dvipa)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse condemns deliberate wrongdoing in leadership: when a ruler driven by sinful intent persecutes the innocent, the harm spreads beyond personal enmity and culminates in widespread, collective destruction. Moral failure at the top becomes societal catastrophe.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana characterizes Duryodhana as the agent who oppressed the blameless Pāṇḍavas and thereby caused the annihilation of the world’s warriors—symbolized by the earth being devastated along with its horses, men, and elephants, i.e., the full apparatus of war.