Shloka 36

अध्याय २२ — अमर्याद-युद्धवर्णन

Unrestrained Battle Description and Śakuni’s Rear Assault

Devanagari script

तस्य तैरभवद्‌ युद्धमिन्द्रियेरिव देहिन:

Transliteration

tasya tair abhavad yuddham indriyair iva dehinaḥ

Translation

Dijo Sañjaya: Para él, la batalla que se alzó contra ellos fue como la lucha que un ser viviente sostiene con los sentidos: un combate interior en el que el dominio, la contención y la firmeza se ponen a prueba en medio del choque exterior.

Word by Word

• तस्य: of him / his
• तस्य: Adhikarana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Genitive, Singular

• तैः: by them / with them
• तैः: Karana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Instrumental, Plural

• अभवत्: was / happened / arose
• Type: Verb
• Root: भू
• Form: Imperfect (Laṅ), 3rd, Singular

• युद्धम्: battle, fight
• युद्धम्: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: युद्ध
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• इन्द्रियैः: with the senses
• इन्द्रियैः: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: इन्द्रिय
• Form: Neuter, Instrumental, Plural

• इव: like, as if
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इव

• देहिनः: of the embodied one (the person)
• देहिनः: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: देहिन्
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• संजय (Sañjaya)
• इन्द्रिय (the senses)
• देहिन् (the embodied being)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames external warfare as analogous to the inner moral-psychological struggle: just as the senses can overpower the embodied self, opponents can press and destabilize a warrior. The ethical emphasis is on mastery—steadiness, restraint, and disciplined agency amid pressure.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes a combat encounter in which a particular warrior’s fight with his adversaries becomes intense and consuming, and he characterizes it through a simile: it resembles the continual contest between a person and the pull of the senses.