Shloka 16

Devanagari script

शार्ज़्गाण्डीवधन्चानौ सहितावपराजितौ । अहं दिव्याद्‌ रथादेक: पातयिष्यामि संयुगे,जो राज्यकी इच्छा रखनेवाले तथा चिन्तासे आतुर हो मुँह लटकाये बैठे हुए मेरे लोभमोहित मूर्ख पुत्र दुर्योधनसे सदा यही कहा करता था कि “मैं अकेला ही युद्धस्थलमें शार्ज़् और गाण्डीव धनुष धारण करनेवाले दोनों अपराजित वीर श्रीकृष्ण और अर्जुनको उनके दिव्यरथसे एक साथ ही मार गिराऊँगा”

Transliteration

śārṅga-gāṇḍīva-dhanū cānau sahitāv aparājitau | ahaṃ divyād rathād ekaḥ pātayiṣyāmi saṃyuge ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “Those two unconquered heroes together—Kṛṣṇa bearing the Śārṅga bow and Arjuna bearing the Gāṇḍīva— I alone will strike down in battle, casting them from their divine chariot.”

Word by Word

शार्ङ्गthe bow Śārṅga

गाण्डीवthe bow Gāṇḍīva

धनुषीtwo bows

चand

अनौtwo (persons)

सहितौtogether, united

अपराजितौunconquered, undefeated

अहम्I

दिव्यात्from the divine

रथात्from the chariot

एकःalone

पातयिष्यामिI will cause to fall / I will strike down

संयुगेin battle

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Kṛṣṇa

Arjuna

Duryodhana

Śārṅga (bow)

Gāṇḍīva (bow)

divya-ratha (divine chariot)

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 highlights the ethical danger of overconfidence and delusion in war: boasting against the protectors of dharma (Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna) reflects ambition-driven blindness, which in the Mahābhārata repeatedly leads to ruin rather than true heroism.

What is happening in the narrative?

The narrator reports a warrior’s claim—made to encourage Duryodhana—that he will single-handedly topple Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna together from their divine chariot, despite their reputation as unconquered and supremely armed with Śārṅga and Gāṇḍīva.