Shloka 453

Devanagari script

अवध्यो<यं भवेल्लोके शत्रूणां तनयो मम । राजन्‌! उनकी माता पर्णाशा अपने पुत्रके लिये वरुणसे बोली--'प्रभो! मेरा यह पुत्र संसारमें शत्रुओंके लिये अवध्य हो'

Transliteration

avadhyo 'yaṁ bhavel loke śatrūṇāṁ tanayo mama | rājan! asya mātā parṇāśā putrārthaṁ varuṇaṁ praty uvāca— “prabho! mama eṣa putraḥ saṁsāre śatrubhyo 'vadhyaḥ syāt” |

Translation

Sañjaya said: “O King, may this son of mine be invulnerable in the world to his enemies.” His mother Parṇāśā, seeking a boon for her child, addressed Varuṇa: “Lord, let my son be unkillable in this world by foes.”

Word by Word

अवध्यःinvulnerable, not to be slain

अयम्this (one)

भवेत्may be / should become

लोकेin the world

शत्रूणाम्of enemies / for enemies

तनयःson

ममmy

राजन्O king

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Parṇāśā

Varuṇa

son (tanaya/putra)

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 underscores the human impulse to seek protection for loved ones through divine favor, while implicitly raising an ethical tension: in a dharmic war, personal boons and partialities can conflict with the larger moral order and the inevitability of consequences.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya recounts to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that a mother, Parṇāśā, petitions the deity Varuṇa for a boon that her son should be ‘avadhya’—not slayable by enemies—framing the son’s exceptional protection within the unfolding war narrative.