Shloka 76

Devanagari script

पराजयमथावाप्य परत्र च महद्‌ भयम्‌

Transliteration

parājayam athāvāpya paratra ca mahad bhayam

Translation

Sañjaya said: “Having met with defeat, and also facing great fear in the hereafter,”—he points to the double peril of unrighteous warfare: loss in the present and moral-spiritual dread beyond this life.

Word by Word

• पराजयम्: defeat
• पराजयम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: पराजय
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• अथ: then/and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अथ

• अवाप्य: having obtained/attained
• Type: Verb
• Root: अव + आप्
• Form: क्त्वा (absolutive/gerund), Parasmaipada (usage)

• परत्र: in the next world/thereafter
• परत्र: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: परत्र

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• महत्: great
• Type: Adjective
• Root: महत्
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• भयम्: fear
• भयम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: भय
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the twofold consequence of wrongful or disastrous action in war: immediate worldly ruin (defeat) and the heavier moral-spiritual anxiety regarding the afterlife (great fear ‘paratra’).

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya, narrating events to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, frames the situation as one where defeat is already encountered and an even graver dread looms beyond this life—setting a tone of foreboding about the ethical cost of the conflict.