Shloka 196

Devanagari script

यतः श्यामत्वमापन्ना: प्रजा जनपदेश्वर । जनपदेश्वर! वहाँ रहनेसे ही वहाँकी प्रजा श्यामताको प्राप्त हुई है

Transliteration

yataḥ śyāmatvam āpannāḥ prajā janapadeśvara |

Translation

Sañjaya said: “O lord of the realm, it is from that very cause that the people have come to be dark-complexioned; by dwelling there itself, the inhabitants of that country have acquired that dark hue.”

Word by Word

• यतः: from which; because of which
• यतः: Apadana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यतस्
• Form: Ablatival adverb (source/cause sense)

• श्यामत्वम्: darkness; dark complexion
• श्यामत्वम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: श्यामत्व
• Form: Neuter, nominative/accusative, singular

• आपन्नाः: having attained; having become
• आपन्नाः: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: आपन्न
• Form: Past active participle (क्त), masculine, nominative, plural (agreeing with प्रजाः)

• प्रजाः: the people; subjects
• प्रजाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्रजा
• Form: Feminine, nominative, plural

• जनपदेश्वर: O lord of the realm/country
• जनपदेश्वर: Sambodhana
• Type: Noun
• Root: जनपद-ईश्वर
• Form: Masculine, vocative, singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• janapadeśvara (the ruler addressed, i.e., Dhṛtarāṣṭra)
• prajāḥ (the subjects/people)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights causality in social description: a community’s observable traits are presented as arising from conditions of place and habitation, reminding a ruler to understand outcomes as effects of causes rather than mere labels.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya addresses the king as ‘lord of the realm’ and explains that the people of a certain region have become dark-complexioned specifically because they live there—an explanatory aside within his report.