Shloka 63

Devanagari script

प्रजानां संशयो न स्यात्‌ कथं तन्मे वद प्रभो । भवान्‌ हि नो वधोपायं ब्रवीतु स्वयमात्मन:,प्रभो! हमारी प्रजाका जीवन संकटमें न पड़े, यह कैसे सम्भव हो सकता है? कृपया यह सब मुझे बताइये। आप स्वयं ही हमें अपने वधका उपाय बताइये

Transliteration

prajānāṃ saṃśayo na syāt kathaṃ tan me vada prabho | bhavān hi no vadhopāyaṃ bravītu svayam ātmanaḥ ||

Translation

Dijo Sañjaya: «Para que el pueblo no caiga en duda ni en peligro, dime—¿cómo puede asegurarse eso, oh señor? En verdad, tú mismo debes declararnos el medio por el cual podrías ser abatido.»

Word by Word

• {'prajānām': 'of the subjects/people', 'saṃśayaḥ': 'doubt

• apprehension', 'na syāt': 'may there not be

• should not arise', 'katham': 'how?', 'tat': 'that (matter/means)', 'me': 'to me', 'vada': 'tell

• speak', 'prabho': 'O lord

• O master (vocative)', 'bhavān': 'you (honorific)', 'hi': 'indeed

• for', 'naḥ': 'to us

• for us', 'vadha-upāyam': 'means/strategy of killing

• method of slaying', 'bravītu': 'let (him/you) say

• should declare', 'svayam': 'oneself

• personally', 'ātmanaḥ': 'of oneself

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• prajā (the people/subjects)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even amid war, the speaker frames action through responsibility toward the people: decisions must minimize uncertainty and harm to subjects, and strategy is sought not for cruelty but for resolving a dangerous impasse with clarity and accountability.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya asks a revered figure addressed as “prabhu” to explain how the people can be kept from danger and confusion, and urges him to state directly the method by which he himself can be slain—indicating a tense moment where defeating a formidable person is seen as necessary to end wider suffering.