Shloka 14

Devanagari script

प्रेतराजपुरं प्राप्प निवर्तेतापि मानव:

Transliteration

pretarājapuraṃ prāpya nivartetāpi mānavaḥ

Translation

Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: Even after reaching the city of the Lord of the Dead (Yama), a human being may yet turn back—showing that fate is not a one-way descent, and that moral effort, restraint, or divine ordinance can reverse even what seems final.

Word by Word

प्रेतराजपुरम्the city of the lord of the departed (Yama)

प्राप्यhaving reached

निवर्तेतwould/should return

अपिeven/also

मानवःa man/human

Speaker

धृतराष्ट उवाच

Characters & Entities

Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Pretarāja (Yama)

Pretarājapura (city/abode of Yama)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The line suggests that even an apparently irreversible endpoint—death and Yama’s realm—can be spoken of as reversible, highlighting the Mahābhārata’s recurring emphasis on the power of dharma, repentance, restraint, and higher ordinance to alter outcomes that seem fated.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Drona Parva setting, Dhṛtarāṣṭra reflects on grim war consequences and the pull of death; the statement functions as a pointed reflection that a person may still ‘turn back’ even after nearing death—underscoring the tension between inevitable destruction and the possibility of reversal through right action or divine will.