Shloka 14

Devanagari script

नैषां पश्यामि हन्तारं प्राणिनां संयुगे क्वचित्‌ । विक्रमेणोपसम्पन्नास्तपोबलसमन्विता:

Transliteration

naiṣāṃ paśyāmi hantāraṃ prāṇināṃ saṃyuge kvacit | vikrameṇopasampannās tapobalasamanvitāḥ ||

Translation

Yudhiṣṭhira said: “In battle I do not see, at any time, any slayer for these living beings. They are endowed with heroic prowess and sustained by the strength born of austerity—so it seems that no single agent can be pointed to as the killer.”

Word by Word

नnot

एषाम्of these (persons)

पश्यामिI see

हन्तारम्slayer, killer

प्राणिनाम्of living beings

संयुगेin battle

क्वचित्ever, anywhere, at any time

विक्रमेणby valor

उपसम्पन्नाःendowed, possessed

तपोबलसमन्विताःendowed with the power of austerity

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Yudhiṣṭhira

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 verse reflects a dharmic-ethical hesitation about assigning simple personal blame for death in war: when warriors are equally fortified by valor and inner power (tapobalam), causality appears complex, suggesting the limits of human judgment about who truly ‘kills’ and how outcomes arise.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Drona Parva’s battle setting, Yudhiṣṭhira speaks reflectively about the combatants: seeing them as powerful and spiritually/ascetically strengthened, he expresses that he cannot clearly identify a definite ‘slayer’ for the living beings amid the chaos of war.