Shloka 3

Babhruvāhana’s Lament and Appeal for Expiation (प्रायश्चित्त-याचना)

Devanagari script

उलूपि पश्य भर्तारें शयानं निहतं रणे । त्वत्कृते मम पुत्रेण बाणेन समितिंजयम्‌

Transliteration

vaibamp
01yana uv
01ca |

ul
6bpi pabya bhart
01ra43 bay
01na43 nihata43 ra47e |

tvatk5bte mama putre47a b
0147ena samiti43jayam ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “Ulūpī, look—our husband lies here on the battlefield, slain. Because of you, my son, with his arrow, has struck down Arjuna, the conqueror in battle.”

Word by Word

• उलूपि: O Ulūpī
• उलूपि: Sampradana
• Type: Noun
• Root: उलूपी
• Form: Feminine, Vocative, Singular

• पश्य: see, behold
• पश्य: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: दृश्
• Form: Imperative, Second, Singular, Parasmaipada

• भर्तारम्: husband/lord
• भर्तारम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: भर्तृ
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• शयानम्: lying (down)
• शयानम्: Karma
• Type: Verb
• Root: शी
• Form: Present active participle (शतृ), Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• निहतम्: slain
• निहतम्: Karma
• Type: Verb
• Root: हन्
• Form: Past passive participle (क्त), Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• रणे: in battle
• रणे: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: रण
• Form: Masculine, Locative, Singular

• त्वत्कृते: for your sake / because of you
• त्वत्कृते: Karana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: त्वत् + कृते
• Form: postpositional phrase (हेतोः-अर्थे), for your sake/because of you

• मम: of me, my
• मम: Sampradana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: अस्मद्
• Form: —, Genitive, Singular

• पुत्रेण: by (my) son
• पुत्रेण: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: पुत्र
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Singular

• बाणेन: with an arrow
• बाणेन: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: बाण
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Singular

• समितिंजयम्: the battle-conqueror (Arjuna)
• समितिंजयम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: समिति + जि
• Form: agent-noun/possessive adjective (णिनि/क्विप्-प्रकृति; conventional form), Masculine, Accusative, Singular

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaibamp
  01yana
• Ul
  6bpi
• husband (bhart5b)
• my son (mama putra)
• arrow (b
  0147a)
• battlefield (ra47a)
• Samiti43jaya (epithet: conqueror in battle)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights moral complexity in warfare: even when an act occurs in battle, the text foregrounds questions of agency and culpabilitywho truly 'caused' the deed, the doer or the instigatorand how grief can turn into ethical accusation.

What is happening in the narrative?

The narrator reports a speaker addressing Ul
6bpi, pointing to their slain husband lying on the battlefield and asserting that Ul
6bpis prompting led the speakers son to kill the famed battle-conqueror with an arrow.