Shloka 4

Chapter 61: Karṇa’s martial assurances and Bhīṣma’s strategic rebuttal in the Kuru assembly

Devanagari script

प्रसादितं हास्य मया मनो 5 भू- च्छुश्रूषया स्वेन च पौरुषेण । तदस्ति चास्त्रं मम सावशेषं तस्मात्‌ समर्थो5स्मि ममैष भार:

Transliteration

prasāditaṃ hāsya mayā mano bhūc-chuśrūṣayā svena ca pauruṣeṇa | tad asti cāstraṃ mama sāvaśeṣaṃ tasmāt samartho 'smi mama eṣa bhāraḥ ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “By my own devoted service and by my personal prowess I had won over his mind. That weapon still remains with me, not yet expended; therefore I am capable. Let this entire burden rest upon me.”

Word by Word

• {'prasāditam': 'made pleased, won over, propitiated', 'hāsya (asya)': 'indeed/this (emphatic particle

• often read as asya in context)', 'mayā': 'by me', 'manaḥ': 'mind, intention, disposition', 'bhūc-chuśrūṣayā': 'by service and attentive attendance (śuśrūṣā)

• with bhū- as an intensifier/compound element in the received text', 'svena': 'by one’s own', 'pauruṣeṇa': 'by manly effort, valor, personal prowess', 'tad': 'that', 'asti': 'is, exists', 'astram': 'weapon (esp. a supernatural missile/weapon-mantra)', 'mama': 'my', 'sāvaśeṣam': 'remaining, still in reserve, not yet used up', 'tasmāt': 'therefore, from that reason', 'samarthaḥ': 'capable, competent', 'asmi': 'I am', 'eṣaḥ bhāraḥ': 'this burden/responsibility'}

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• astra (weapon; implied as a powerful divine missile in the Hindi gloss: Brahmāstra)
• Pāṇḍavas (implied by the Hindi gloss)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how influence is gained through two complementary means—devoted service (śuśrūṣā) and personal effort/valor (pauruṣa)—and then turns to the ethical weight of agency: claiming capability implies accepting responsibility for the consequences of deploying power (astra) in a conflict.

What is happening in the narrative?

A speaker (reported by Vaiśampāyana) asserts that he has already secured another’s favor and still retains an unspent weapon, so he declares himself able to bear the task—implicitly the task of overcoming the Pāṇḍavas—and asks that the burden of the undertaking be placed on him.