Shloka 5

Devanagari script

यद्य॒हं भवतोस्त्याज्यो न वाच्यो5स्मि तदैव हि । आवां पाण्डुसुतान्‌ संख्ये जेष्याव इति मानदौ,“दूसरोंको मान देनेवाले वीरो! यदि आपलोग मुझे त्याग देना ही उचित समझते थे तो आपको उसी समय मुझसे यह नहीं कहना चाहिये था कि “हमलोग पाण्डवोंको युद्धमें जीत लेंगे!

Transliteration

yady ahaṃ bhavatos tyājyo na vācyo 'smi tadaiva hi | āvāṃ pāṇḍusutān saṅkhye jeṣyāva iti mānadau ||

Translation

Sañjaya dit : «Ô vous qui savez honorer autrui ! Si vous estimiez vraiment juste de me rejeter, alors, dès cet instant, vous n’auriez pas dû me dire : “Nous vaincrons au combat les fils de Pāṇḍu.” De telles paroles lient à la responsabilité ; repousser un homme après avoir reçu son avis est blâmable au regard du dharma.»

Word by Word

यदिif

अहम्I

भवतोःof you two

त्याज्यःto be abandoned / fit to be given up

नnot

वाच्यःto be spoken to / to be addressed

अस्मिI am

तदाthen / at that time

एवindeed / just

हिfor / indeed

आवाम्we two

पाण्डुसुतान्the sons of Pandu (the Pandavas)

संख्येin battle

जेष्यावःwe two shall conquer

इतिthus (quotative)

मानदौO you two who give honor (O respectful ones)

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Pāṇḍusuta (Pāṇḍavas)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Words of commitment create moral responsibility: it is improper to seek someone’s participation or assent (“we will win”) and then discard that person; honoring others includes consistency and accountability in speech.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya voices a reproach to two addressed as “mānadau,” arguing that if they intended to abandon him, they should not earlier have spoken to him with confident assurances about defeating the Pāṇḍavas in battle.