Shloka 20

Devanagari script

उपस्थितमिदं घोरें युद्ध त्रलोक्यमोहनम्‌ । यज्जना: कथयिष्यन्ति यावद्‌ भूमिर्धरिष्यति,आज तीनों लोकोंको मोहमें डालनेवाला यह घोर युद्ध उपस्थित है। जबतक पृथ्वी कायम रहेगी तबतक संसारके लोग इस युद्धकी चर्चा करेंगे

Transliteration

upasthitam idaṁ ghore yuddhaṁ trilokya-mohanam | yaj janāḥ kathayiṣyanti yāvad bhūmir dhariṣyati ||

Translation

Arjuna said: “This dreadful war, which will bewilder the three worlds, now stands before us. So long as the earth endures, people will speak of it.”

Word by Word

उपस्थितम्present, arrived

इदम्this

घोरम्terrible

युद्धम्battle, war

त्रैलोक्यthe three worlds

मोहनम्bewildering, deluding (thing)

यत्which (that which)

जनाःpeople

कथयिष्यन्तिwill narrate, will speak of

यावत्as long as, until

भूमिःearth

धरिष्यतिwill endure, will remain

Speaker

अजुन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Arjuna

the three worlds (triloka)

earth (bhūmi)

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?

Arjuna frames the battle not merely as a political conflict but as an ethically and psychologically overwhelming event (“bewildering the three worlds”), whose consequences and moral questions will echo through time. The verse highlights how adharma-driven violence can generate lasting collective memory and moral debate.

What is happening in the narrative?

On the battlefield, Arjuna remarks on the imminence and horror of the war and predicts its enduring renown. His words underscore the magnitude of the Kurukṣetra conflict and the sense that it will become a perpetual subject of human narration as long as the world lasts.