Shloka 1

Devanagari script

अपना छा |: चतुस्त्रिंशर्दाधिकशततमो< ध्याय: विदुलाका अपने पुत्रको युद्धके लिये उत्साहित करना विदुलोवाच अथैतस्यामवस्थायां पौरुष॑ हातुमिच्छसि । निहीनसेवितं मार्ग गमिष्यस्यचिरादिव,विदुला बोली--संजय! यदि तू इस दशामें पौरुषको छोड़ देनेकी इच्छा करता है तो शीघ्र ही नीच पुरुषोंके मार्गपर जा पहुँचेगा

Transliteration

vidulovāca | athaitasyām avasthāyāṃ pauruṣaṃ hātum icchasi | nihīna-sevitaṃ mārgaṃ gamiṣyasy acirād iva ||

Translation

Vidulā said: “If, in this situation, you wish to abandon manly resolve, then before long you will find yourself on the path frequented by the base—slipping into the way of the low and the cowardly.”

Word by Word

• {'atha': 'now

• then (introducing the statement)', 'etasyām avasthāyām': 'in this condition

• at this critical juncture', 'pauruṣam': 'manly courage

• steadfast valor', 'hātum': 'to abandon

• to give up', 'icchasi': 'you desire

• you wish', 'nihīna': 'low

• ignoble', 'sevitam': 'resorted to

• practiced', 'mārgam': 'path

• course of conduct', 'gamiṣyasi': 'you will go

• you will come to follow', 'acirāt': 'soon

• before long', 'iva': 'as if

Speaker

पुत्र उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vidulā
• Vidulā's son (unnamed in this verse)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Do not abandon courage and self-respect at a decisive moment; giving up heroic resolve leads quickly to ignoble conduct and association with the base.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vidulā admonishes her son, urging him to rouse his valor for the coming conflict; she warns that renouncing courage in this crisis will make him fall into a degraded way of life.