Shloka 9

Duryodhana’s Account of Gandharva Defeat and the Pandavas’ Intervention (दुर्योधनवर्णितो गन्धर्वसंग्रामः)

Devanagari script

कथं नु सत्य: शुचिरार्यवृत्तो ज्येष्ठ: सुतानां मम धर्मराज: । अजातशणत्रु: पृथिवीतले सम शेते पुरा राडकवकूटशायी,“अहो! जो मेरे सभी पुत्रोंमें बड़े तथा सत्यवादी, पवित्र और सदाचारी हैं तथा जो पहले रंकु मृगके (नरम) रोओंसे बने हुए बिछौनोंपर सोया करते थे, वे अजातशत्रु धर्मराज युधिष्ठटिर आजकल भूमिपर कैसे शयन करते होंगे?

Transliteration

kathaṁ nu satyaḥ śucir āryavṛtto jyeṣṭhaḥ sutānāṁ mama dharmarājaḥ | ajātaśatruḥ pṛthivītale samaṁ śete purā raṅkavakūṭaśāyī ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “How is it that my Dharma-king—truthful, pure, and steadfast in noble conduct, the eldest among my sons—Ajātaśatru, who once lay upon soft beds made of raṅku-deer hair, now lies level upon the bare earth? Alas, how must Yudhiṣṭhira be sleeping today?”

Word by Word

कथम्how?

नुindeed/now (emphatic particle)

सत्यःtruthful

शुचिःpure

आर्यवृत्तःof noble conduct

ज्येष्ठःeldest

सुतानाम्of (my) sons

ममmy

धर्मराजःDharma-king (Yudhiṣṭhira)

अजातशत्रुःone whose enemies are not born (invincible/without foes)

पृथिवीतलेon the surface of the earth

सम्together/fully (preverb)

शेतेlies/sleeps

पुराformerly/once

राडकवकूटशायीone who lay on a rādaka-kavakūṭa bed (a kind of soft bedding)

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Dharmarāja (Yudhiṣṭhira)

Ajātaśatru (Yudhiṣṭhira)

pṛthivī (earth/ground)

raṅku-mṛga (raṅku deer)

raṅku-deer-hair bedding (raṅkavakūṭa-śayyā)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Geographic Context

Sandhi Notes