Shloka 34
शल्यस्य सेनापत्याभ्युपगमः | Śalya’s Acceptance of Command
कृपणं विलपन्नार्तो जरयाभिपरिप्लुत: । ग्रियते रुदतां मध्ये ज्ञातीनां न स पूरुष:
sañjaya uvāca | kṛpaṇaṃ vilapann ārto jarayābhipariplutaḥ | grīyate rudatāṃ madhye jñātīnāṃ na sa pūruṣaḥ ||
Sañjaya dit : Celui que la vieillesse a brisé, accablé de maladie, qui gémit d’un pleur pitoyable et meurt au milieu des siens assis autour en sanglotant — se lamentant sans force au moment de rendre le souffle — n’est pas digne du nom d’« homme ».
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse contrasts dignified endurance with helpless, self-pitying collapse: being overcome by age and suffering is natural, but surrendering to despair and dying in pitiable lamentation is portrayed as lacking the steadiness and courage expected of a ‘pūruṣa’ (a person of true manly worth).
Sañjaya offers a reflective, moralizing observation about a pitiable kind of death—one that occurs amid grieving relatives—using it to comment on character and the ideal of facing decline and death with firmness rather than plaintive helplessness.