Shloka 37

Aśvatthāman’s Arrow-Screen and the Confrontation with Yudhiṣṭhira (द्रौणि–युधिष्ठिर-संग्रामः)

Devanagari script

यास्तिष्ठन्त्य: प्रमेहन्ति यथैवोष्टदशेरका: । तासां विश्रष्टधर्माणां निर्लज्जानां ततस्ततः

Transliteration

yās tiṣṭhantyaḥ pramehanti yathaivōṣṭa-daśerakāḥ | tāsāṃ viśraṣṭa-dharmāṇāṃ nirlajjānāṃ tatastataḥ

Translation

Karna dijo: «Esas mujeres que, estando de pie, orinan—como las camellas—son gentes cuyo sentido del decoro se ha derrumbado. Desvergonzadas y sin ancla moral, se comportan así en todo lugar y en todo tiempo.»

Word by Word

याःwho (those women) / which

तिष्ठन्त्यःstanding

प्रमेहन्तिurinate / pass urine

यथाjust as

एवindeed / exactly

उष्टदशेरकाःcamels (lit. uṣṭa-daśeraka, a camel-kind)

तासाम्of those (women)

विश्रष्टधर्माणाम्of those whose dharma/conduct has fallen away

निर्लज्जानाम्of the shameless

ततःthereupon / from there

ततःagain/then; here: here and there

Speaker

कर्ण उवाच

Characters & Entities

Karna

female camels (uṣṭa-daśerakāḥ)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames dharma as including modesty and socially regulated conduct; it condemns shamelessness (nirlajjatā) and presents loss of propriety (viśraṣṭa-dharma) as a moral failing expressed through outward behavior.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Karna’s speech, he uses a harsh simile (female camels) to denounce certain women as shameless and fallen from dharma, employing moral invective as part of the broader polemical exchanges within the war-time narrative.