Shloka 143

Devanagari script

निगृहा केशेषु वर्ध॑ गुरोर्धर्मात्मन: सतः । 'पुरुषाधम! तेरे सिवा दूसरा कौन श्रेष्ठ पुरुष धर्मात्मा सज्जन गुरुके केश पकड़कर उनके वधका विचार भी मनमें लायेगा

Transliteration

nigṛhya keśeṣu vṛddhaṁ guror dharmātmanaḥ sataḥ | “puruṣādhama! tere sivā dūsarā kauna śreṣṭha-puruṣa dharmātmā sajjana guru-ke keśa pakaṛakara unake vadha-kā vicāra bhī man-meṁ lāyegā” ||

Translation

Sañjaya said: “Having seized by the hair an aged, righteous, and virtuous teacher—O lowest of men!—who besides you would ever be so depraved as to even conceive in his heart the thought of killing such a noble, dharma-abiding guru?”

Word by Word

निगृह्यhaving seized/held fast

केशेषुin/at the hair (by the hair)

वर्धgrow!/prosper!/increase!

गुरोःof the teacher

धर्मात्मनःof the righteous-souled

सतःof the good/virtuous one

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

guru (the preceptor/teacher)

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?

Even amid war, certain acts remain profoundly adharmic—humiliating and harming a righteous teacher. The verse condemns not only the act of violence but the very intention to kill a virtuous guru, stressing moral limits and reverence owed to elders and preceptors.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes and morally denounces a scene in which an aged, dharma-abiding teacher is seized by the hair, and the aggressor is rebuked as ‘puruṣādhama’ for even contemplating the teacher’s death.