Shloka 39

Udyoga Parva 142: Vidura’s warning to Kuntī and Kuntī’s resolve to meet Karṇa

Gaṅgātīra encounter begins

Devanagari script

नकुलः सहदेवश्व सात्यकिश्न महारथ: । शुक्लकेयूरकण्ठत्रा: शुक्लमाल्याम्बरावृता:,“नकुल, सहदेव तथा महारथी सात्यकि--ये तीन नरश्रेष्ठ मुझे स्वप्नमें श्वेत भुजबन्द, श्वेत कण्ठहार, श्वेत वस्त्र और श्वेत मालाओंसे विभूषित हो उत्तम नरयान (पालकी)-पर चढ़े दिखायी दिये हैं। ये तीनों ही श्वेत छत्र और श्वेत वस्त्रोंसे सुशोभित थे

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca |

nakulaḥ sahadevaś ca sātyakiś ca mahārathaḥ |

śukla-keyūra-kaṇṭha-trāḥ śukla-mālyāmbara-āvṛtāḥ |

Translation

Sañjaya dijo: «En un sueño vi a Nakula, Sahadeva y al gran guerrero de carro Sātyaki—los más eminentes entre los hombres—adornados con brazaletes blancos y ornamentos blancos al cuello, vestidos de blanco y ceñidos con guirnaldas blancas. Se me aparecieron montados en un excelente vehículo llevado por hombres, resplandecientes con un parasol blanco y ropajes blancos.»

Word by Word

• {'sañjaya uvāca': 'Sanjaya said', 'nakulaḥ': 'Nakula (one of the Pāṇḍava twins)', 'sahadevaḥ': 'Sahadeva (one of the Pāṇḍava twins)', 'sātyakiḥ': 'Sātyaki (Yādava hero, ally of the Pāṇḍavas)', 'mahārathaḥ': 'great chariot-warrior

• an elite combatant', 'śukla': 'white

• bright (often used in omens/portents)', 'keyūra': 'armlet

• arm-ornament', 'kaṇṭha-trā': 'neck-ornament/necklet (protective or decorative)', 'mālya': 'garland', 'ambara': 'garment

• clothing', 'āvṛta': 'covered, clad, enveloped', 'chatra (implied by context)': 'parasol

• royal umbrella', 'nara-yāna (implied by context)': 'man-borne vehicle/palanquin'}

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sanjaya
• Nakula
• Sahadeva
• Satyaki
• white armlets (śukla-keyūra)
• white neck-ornaments (śukla-kaṇṭha-trā)
• white garlands (śukla-mālya)
• white garments (śukla-ambara)
• white parasol (śukla-chatra, contextual)
• palanquin/man-borne conveyance (nara-yāna, contextual)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores how, on the eve of great ethical crisis, signs and portents are read as warnings: even the valorous are subject to mortality, and the march toward war can become inexorable when dharma is strained and reconciliation fails.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sanjaya reports a dream-vision in which Nakula, Sahadeva, and Sātyaki appear adorned entirely in white and borne in a royal conveyance with a white parasol—an ominous premonition within the Udyoga Parva’s pre-battle atmosphere.