Shloka 42
Adhyāya 160: Arjuna’s Envoy-Message—Critique of Borrowed Valor and Pre-dawn Mobilization
शस्त्रौघमक्षय्यमतिप्रवृद्धं यदावगाहा श्रमनष्टचेता: । भविष्यसि त्वं हतसर्वबान्धव- स््तदा मनस्ते परितापमेष्यति,'भाँति-भाँतिके शस्त्र इस सैन्यसागरके जलप्रवाह हैं। यह अक्षय होनेके साथ ही खूब बढ़ा हुआ है। इसमें प्रवेश करनेपर अधिक श्रमके कारण जब तुम्हारी चेतना नष्ट हो जायगी, तुम्हारे समस्त बन्धु मार दिये जायूँगे, उस समय तुम्हारे मनको बड़ा संताप होगा
śastraugham akṣayyam atipravṛddhaṃ yadāvagāhāḥ śrama-naṣṭa-cetāḥ | bhaviṣyasi tvaṃ hata-sarva-bāndhavaḥ tadā manas te paritāpam eṣyati ||
Ulūka warns that the Kaurava host is like a surging, inexhaustible flood of weapons. If you plunge into that torrent, exhaustion will shatter your clarity; and when all your kinsmen have been slain, your mind will be seized by burning remorse. The speech is meant to intimidate—casting war as an overwhelming force and the enemy’s resolve as a path not to honor, but to grief and moral anguish.
उलूक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how war’s momentum can overwhelm judgment: entering the 'flood' of violence leads to mental collapse and, after the loss of one’s own people, to intense remorse. It implicitly warns that victory-talk and martial pride often end in grief, making ethical foresight crucial.
Ulūka, speaking on behalf of the Kauravas, delivers a taunting warning to the opposing side. He portrays the Kaurava forces as an inexhaustible torrent of weapons and predicts that the enemy will be exhausted, lose composure, and later suffer anguish when their relatives are killed.