Mahabharata 9.3.25 — Shalya Parva, Adhyaya 3, Shloka 25

अध्याय ३: कृपस्य दुर्योधनं प्रति नीत्युपदेशः

Kṛpa’s Counsel to Duryodhana

Devanagari script

जातरूपपरिच्छन्नां प्रगृह्ा महतीं गदाम्‌

Transliteration

jātarūpaparicchannāṁ pragṛhya mahatīṁ gadām

Translation

Dijo Sañjaya: Tomó una enorme maza, recubierta de oro, y se dispuso para el combate: imagen de esplendor regio puesto al servicio de la labor sombría de la guerra, donde la magnificencia exterior contrasta con la violencia que sostiene.

Word by Word

• जातरूपपरिच्छन्नाम्: covered/overlaid with gold
• जातरूपपरिच्छन्नाम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: जातरूपपरिच्छन्ना
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• प्रगृह्य: having seized/taken up
• Type: Verb
• Root: ग्रह्
• Form: Absolutive (Gerund)

• महीम्: great, huge
• महीम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: महत्
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• गदाम्: mace
• गदाम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: गदा
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• gold
• mace (gadā)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The line highlights how instruments of power and prestige (a gold-clad weapon) are employed in war, underscoring the ethical tension in kṣatriya life: grandeur and duty can become vehicles for destruction when conflict is embraced.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya narrates a warrior taking up a huge mace encased in gold, signaling readiness for close combat and emphasizing the formidable, ceremonial-yet-deadly nature of the weapon.