Shloka 13

Kuntī–Karṇa Saṃvāda: Lineage Disclosure and Appeal to Fraternal Dharma

Devanagari script

पश्ये दोषं ध्रुवं युद्धे तथायुद्धे पराभवम्‌ । अधनस्य मृतं श्रेयो न हि ज्ञातिक्षयो जय:

Transliteration

paśye doṣaṃ dhruvaṃ yuddhe tathāyuddhe parābhavam | adhanasya mṛtaṃ śreyo na hi jñātikṣayo jayaḥ ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana dijo: «En la guerra veo una falta cierta y grave; pero si no hay guerra, la derrota es igualmente evidente. Para quien carece de recursos, escoger la muerte es preferible; la victoria comprada con la destrucción de los propios parientes no es victoria alguna».

Word by Word

• {'paśye': 'I see, I perceive', 'doṣam': 'fault, moral blemish, grave drawback', 'dhruvam': 'certain, inevitable', 'yuddhe': 'in war', 'tathā': 'likewise, similarly', 'ayuddhe': 'in non-war, in the absence of battle', 'parābhavam': 'defeat, downfall', 'adhanasya': 'of the poor/without wealth, of one lacking means', 'mṛtam': 'death

• dying', 'śreyaḥ': 'better, preferable, the higher good', 'na hi': 'indeed not

• certainly not', 'jñātikṣayaḥ': 'destruction of kinsmen/relatives', 'jayaḥ': 'victory, triumph'}

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Pāṇḍavas
• jñāti (kinsmen/relatives)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse weighs outcomes and asserts an ethical hierarchy: even if war may bring victory, it carries an inevitable moral fault—especially the ruin of one’s own kin. A triumph gained through jñātikṣaya (kinsmen’s destruction) is ethically hollow and cannot be called true victory.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Udyoga Parva’s tense pre-war deliberations, the speaker frames a grim dilemma: war is morally tainted, yet avoiding war seems to ensure the Pāṇḍavas’ defeat. The statement captures the crisis of counsel where every option appears costly, and the value of kinship is set against political success.