Shloka 3

Adhyāya 16 — Daiva, Kṣatriya-dharma, and Public Reassurance to Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Devanagari script

कथं पाण्डोर्न नश्येत संतति: पुरुषर्षभा: । यशश्च वो न नश्येत इति चोद्धर्षणं कृतम्‌

Transliteration

kathaṃ pāṇḍor na naśyet santatiḥ puruṣarṣabhāḥ | yaśaś ca vo na naśyet iti coddharṣaṇaṃ kṛtam, śreṣṭha puruṣa |

Translation

Vaiśaṃpāyana dit : «Ô taureaux parmi les hommes, je vous ai poussés à l’action avec cette pensée : “Comment faire pour que la lignée de Pāṇḍu ne soit pas anéantie, et pour que votre renommée ne périsse pas non plus ?” C’est pour cela que je vous ai pressés vers la guerre, ô le meilleur des hommes.»

Word by Word

• {'katham': 'how? in what way?', 'pāṇḍoḥ': 'of Pāṇḍu', 'na naśyet': 'may not perish

• may not be destroyed', 'santatiḥ': 'progeny

• succession', 'puruṣarṣabhāḥ': 'O bulls among men

• foremost men (vocative plural)', 'yaśaḥ': 'fame

• renown', 'ca': 'and', 'vo': 'your (plural)', 'iti': 'thus

• ‘so’ (quotative marker)', 'coddharṣaṇam (ca + uddharṣaṇam)': 'incitement

• encouragement', 'kṛtam': 'was done

• was made', 'śreṣṭha puruṣa': 'O best of men (vocative)'}

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśaṃpāyana
• Pāṇḍu
• Pāṇḍava lineage (Pāṇḍoḥ santatiḥ)
• the addressed heroes (puruṣarṣabhāḥ / śreṣṭha puruṣa)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames political and martial urging as an ethical calculus: preserving a rightful lineage (santati) and safeguarding honorable reputation (yaśas). It highlights how counsel can appeal to dharma-based continuity and public virtue, even when the means involves war.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśaṃpāyana reports a justification for having roused the heroes to fight: the speaker’s stated aim was that Pāṇḍu’s line should not be extinguished and that the warriors’ fame should not be lost, hence the deliberate encouragement toward battle.