Mahabharata — Virata Parva, Shloka 3

अर्जुन-कर्ण-सङ्ग्रामः

Arjuna–Karna Engagement in the Cattle-Raid Aftermath

Devanagari script

देशकालेन संयुक्त युद्धं विजयदं भवेत्‌ । हीनकालं तदेवेह फलं न लभते पुनः । देशे काले च विक्रान्तं कल्याणाय विधीयते

Transliteration

deśakālena saṁyuktaṁ yuddhaṁ vijayadaṁ bhavet | hīnakālaṁ tadeveha phalaṁ na labhate punaḥ | deśe kāle ca vikrāntaṁ kalyāṇāya vidhīyate ||

Translation

Kṛpa dit : «Un combat entrepris en accord avec le lieu et le temps devient dispensateur de victoire. Mais ce même combat, s’il est engagé à contretemps, ne donne aucun fruit. La vaillance exercée en tenant compte du lieu et du temps est seule véritablement porteuse de bien.»

Word by Word

• {'deśa': 'place, terrain, locality', 'kāla': 'time, season, occasion', 'deśakālena saṁyuktam': 'joined with (i.e., aligned to) place and time

• undertaken with strategic propriety', 'yuddham': 'battle, warfare', 'vijayadam': 'granting victory', 'bhavet': 'would be, becomes', 'hīna-kālam': 'deficient/unsuitable time

• ill-timed', 'tad eva': 'that very (same thing)', 'iha': 'here (in this world/this context)', 'phalam': 'fruit, outcome, result', 'na labhate': 'does not obtain', 'punaḥ': 'again, thereafter', 'vikrāntam': 'heroic effort, valor, prowess', 'kalyāṇāya': 'for welfare, for auspicious good', 'vidhīyate': 'is ordained/arranged

Speaker

कृप उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Kṛpa