Shanti Parva Adhyaya 224 Shloka 20 - Mahabharata | French | Vedapath

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Shloka 20

कालनिर्णयः, युगधर्मवर्णनम्, सृष्टिक्रमश्च

Time-Reckoning, Yuga-Dharma, and the Sequence of Creation

Devanagari script

दग्धमेवानुदहति हतमेवानुहन्यते । नश्यते नष्टमेवाग्रे लब्धव्यं लभते नर:

Transliteration

śakra uvāca | dagdham evānudahati hatam evānuhanyate | naśyate naṣṭam evāgre labdhavyaṃ labhate naraḥ ||

Translation

Ce qui a déjà été brûlé est, pour ainsi dire, brûlé de nouveau; ce qui a déjà été tué est tué de nouveau. Ce qui a péri d’avance est ce qui paraît être détruit, et ce qui était déjà destiné à être obtenu est ce que l’homme en vient à posséder. L’enseignement est que les issues se déploient selon le Temps (Kāla) et la destinée; l’initiative humaine agit dans ce qui a déjà été mis en mouvement: qu’on agisse donc sans arrogance et sans affliction démesurée.

Word by Word

दग्धम्burnt (thing)

एवindeed/only

अनुदहतिburns again/afterwards

हतम्killed (one/thing)

एवindeed/only

अनुहन्यतेis (again) slain afterwards

नश्यतेperishes/is destroyed

नष्टम्already destroyed (thing)

एवindeed/only

अग्रेbefore/previously

लब्धव्यम्to be obtained/obtainable (destined gain)

लभतेobtains

नरःa man

Speaker

श॒क्र उवाच

Characters & Entities

Śakra (Indra)

nara (human being)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse emphasizes the inevitability of outcomes governed by Kāla (Time) and destiny: events that occur appear to be caused by immediate agents, but in a deeper sense they unfold because they were already determined. This encourages humility, steadiness, and reduced attachment to success or failure.

What is happening in the narrative?

Śakra (Indra) speaks in a reflective, instructive tone, using parallel examples—burning, killing, destroying, obtaining—to convey that what happens to beings and things follows an already-established course, and human actions often serve as instruments in that larger order.