Shloka 15

Devanagari script

अहत्वा सर्वपाज्चालान्‌ जीवेयं न कथंचन । सर्वोपायैर्यतिष्यामि पठचालानामहं वधे,“कुरुनन्दन! मैं अपने सत्य, इष्ट (यज्ञ-यागादि) और आपूर्त (वापी-तड़ागनिर्माण आदि) कर्मोकी शपथ खाकर कहता हूँ कि समस्त पांचालोंका वध किये बिना किसी तरह जीवित नहीं रह सकूँगा। सभी उपायोंसे पांचालोंको मार डालनेका प्रयत्न करूँगा

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca | ahatvā sarvapāñcālān jīveyaṃ na kathaṃcana | sarvopāyair yatiṣyāmi pāñcālānām ahaṃ vadhe |

Translation

Sañjaya said: “Unless I have slain all the Pāñcālas, I cannot live in any way. By every possible means I will strive for the killing of the Pāñcālas.” The words bear a grim, vow-like resolve amid war, binding survival to vengeance and to the supposed necessity of total annihilation, and thus raising an ethical tension between personal rage and the broader demands of dharma.

Word by Word

• {'sañjaya uvāca': 'Sañjaya said', 'ahatvā': "having not slain

• without killing (absolutive of √han, 'to kill')", 'sarva-pāñcālān': 'all the Pāñcālas (people of Pañcāla)', 'jīveyam': 'I would live / I could live (optative/conditional sense)', 'na kathaṃcana': 'not in any way

• by no means', 'sarvopāyaiḥ': 'by all means

• with every stratagem/expedient', 'yatiṣyāmi': 'I will strive

• I will make effort', 'pāñcālānām': 'of the Pāñcālas', 'ahaṃ': 'I', 'vadhe': 'in killing

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Pāñcālas (people of Pañcāla)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how vows driven by vengeance can harden into an absolute resolve—“I cannot live unless…”—revealing the ethical danger of letting personal rage override restraint and broader dharma, especially in wartime.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports a warrior’s fierce determination to exterminate the Pāñcālas, declaring that he will employ every possible means to kill them all and that he cannot continue living otherwise.