Shloka 513

अध्याय ३: कृपस्य दुर्योधनं प्रति नीत्युपदेशः

Kṛpa’s Counsel to Duryodhana

Devanagari script

यत्र यातान्न वो हन्यु: पाण्डवा: कि सृतेन व: । “वीरो! मैं भूतलपर और पर्वतोंमें भी कोई ऐसा स्थान नहीं देखता, जहाँ चले जानेपर तुमलोगोंको पाण्डव मार न सकें; फिर तुम्हारे भागनेसे क्या लाभ है?

Transliteration

yatra yātān na vo hanyuḥ pāṇḍavāḥ kiṃ sṛtena vaḥ |

Translation

Sañjaya said: “I see no place—neither on the earth nor among the mountains—where, if you were to go, the Pāṇḍavas could not strike you down. What gain, then, is there in fleeing?”

Word by Word

यत्रwhere

यातान्gone; having gone

नnot

वःof you; your

हन्युःmight kill / would kill

पाण्डवाःthe Pandavas

किम्what? (what use?)

सृतेनby fleeing; by running away

वःto you; for you

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Pāṇḍavas

bhūtala (the earth)

parvata (mountains)

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?

Flight is portrayed as futile when danger is inescapable; the implied ethic is to face one’s duty and consequences with steadiness rather than seek safety through panic-driven retreat.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya addresses warriors on the Kaurava side, warning that there is no safe refuge—on land or in the mountains—where the Pāṇḍavas cannot reach and kill them, so running away offers no real advantage.