Shloka 20

Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 155 — Ghaṭotkaca-nidhana-śoka and Karṇa-śakti-vyaya

Kṛṣṇa’s strategic reassurance

Devanagari script

क्षीणतोयानिलाकंभ्यां हतत्विडिव पद्मिनी

Transliteration

kṣīṇatoyānilākāmbhyāṃ hatatviḍ iva padminī

Translation

Sañjaya said: Like a lotus-pond whose waters had dwindled and whose lotuses had lost their radiance under drying wind and heat, the scene appeared drained of vitality.

Word by Word

• क्षीणतोया: having diminished water / with scant water
• क्षीणतोया: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: क्षीण-तोय (क्षीण + तोय)
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• अनिलाकंभ्याम्: by wind and the sun (heat)
• अनिलाकंभ्याम्: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: अनिल + अकंभ्य (अनिल + अकंभ्य)
• Form: Neuter, Instrumental, Dual

• हतत्विट्: with luster destroyed / faded
• हतत्विट्: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: हत-त्विष् (हन् + त्विष्)
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• इव: like, as if
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इव

• पद्मिनी: a lotus-pond / lotus-lake
• पद्मिनी: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: पद्मिनी
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• lotus-pond (padminī)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse uses a natural simile to show how life, beauty, and strength depend on sustaining conditions; when those supports are exhausted—like water for a lotus-pond—splendor fades. Ethically, it underscores war’s power to drain what is nourishing and life-giving, leaving only depletion.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra using a vivid comparison: the situation (implicitly the battlefield and its warriors) looks like a lotus-pond dried by wind and heat, its former brilliance gone—conveying exhaustion and ruin after intense fighting.