Shloka 313

Devanagari script

कि तदा न निहंस्येनं भूत्वा पुरुषसत्तम: । जिस समय पराक्रमी भूरिश्रवा तुझे लातसे मारकर धरतीपर घसीट रहे थे, तू बड़ा श्रेष्ठ पुरुष था, तो उसी समय उन्हें क्यों नहीं मार डाला?

Transliteration

ki tadā na nihanyenam bhūtvā puruṣasattamaḥ |

Translation

Dhṛṣṭadyumna dit : «Si tu étais vraiment le meilleur des hommes, pourquoi ne l’as-tu pas abattu sur-le-champ ? Quand le puissant Bhūriśravas te frappait du pied et te traînait à même le sol, pourquoi ne l’as-tu pas tué alors ?»

Word by Word

• किम्: why?/what?
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: किम्
• Form: interrogative particle

• तदा: then, at that time
• तदा: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तदा
• Form: temporal adverb

• न: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न
• Form: negation

• निहंस्य: would (you) kill/slay
• Type: Verb
• Root: नि-हन्
• Form: conditional/optative sense; 2nd person singular (parasmaipada); future/conditional stem (nhiṁs-)

• एनम्: him
• एनम्: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: एतद्
• Form: masculine; accusative; singular

• भूत्वा: having become/being
• Type: Verb
• Root: भू
• Form: absolutive (क्त्वा); indeclinable

• पुरुषसत्तमः: the best of men
• पुरुषसत्तमः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: पुरुषसत्तम
• Form: masculine; nominative; singular

Speaker

धृष्टह्युम्न उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Dhṛṣṭadyumna
• Bhūriśravas

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse foregrounds the tension between valor and restraint: in war, a warrior is judged not only by strength but by timely action and adherence to a code of honor. Dhṛṣṭadyumna challenges the consistency of claiming moral or heroic superiority while failing to respond when directly humiliated and endangered.

What is happening in the narrative?

Dhṛṣṭadyumna confronts a warrior (implied to be Sātyaki in the surrounding episode) about the Bhūriśravas encounter. He points to the moment when Bhūriśravas physically abused and dragged him, asking why he did not kill Bhūriśravas then—highlighting questions of rightful retaliation and battlefield propriety.