Mahabharata 7.74.48 — Drona Parva, Adhyaya 74, Shloka 48

अर्जुनस्य सैन्धवाभिमुखगमनम् तथा विन्दानुविन्दयोर्वधः

Arjuna’s advance toward Saindhava and the fall of Vinda–Anuvinda

Devanagari script

असुरसुरमनुष्या: पक्षिणो वोरगा वा पितृरजनिचरा वा ब्रह्म॒देवर्षयो वा । चरमचरमपीद यत्परं चापि तस्मात्‌ तदपि ममरिपु त॑ रक्षितुं नैव शक्ता:

Transliteration

asurasuramanusyāḥ pakṣiṇo voragā vā pitṛrajanicarā vā brahmadevarṣayo vā | caramacaram apīdaṃ yat paraṃ cāpi tasmāt tad api mama ripuṃ taṃ rakṣituṃ naiva śaktāḥ ||

Translation

અસુર હોય કે દેવ, મનુષ્ય હોય કે પક્ષી, નાગ હોય કે પિતૃગણ, નિશાચર હોય કે બ્રહ્મર્ષિ-દેવર્ષિ—આ ચરાચર જગત અને તેની પાર જે કંઈ છે, તે બધું મળીને પણ મારા શત્રુ જયદ્રથની રક્ષા કરી શકતું નથી।

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'asura', 'definition': 'anti-god, demonic power

• adversarial cosmic force'}, {'term': 'sura (deva)', 'definition': 'god, divine being'}, {'term': 'manuṣya', 'definition': 'human being'}, {'term': 'pakṣiṇ', 'definition': 'bird

• winged creature'}, {'term': 'uraga', 'definition': 'serpent

• snake (lit. ‘goer on the chest/belly’)'}, {'term': 'pitṛ', 'definition': 'ancestral spirits

• forefathers'}, {'term': 'rajanicara', 'definition': 'night-wanderer

• nocturnal being (often rākṣasa/piśāca type)'}, {'term': 'brahmarṣi', 'definition': 'sage of the highest order

• seer established in Brahman'}, {'term': 'devarṣi', 'definition': 'divine sage (e.g., Nārada-type seers)'}, {'term': 'cara-acara', 'definition': 'the moving and the unmoving

• all living and non-living creation'}, {'term': 'paraṃ tasmāt', 'definition': 'beyond that

• transcending even the manifest world'}, {'term': 'ripu', 'definition': 'enemy, foe'}, {'term': 'rakṣitum', 'definition': 'to protect, to guard'}, {'term': 'naiva śaktāḥ', 'definition': 'are not at all able

Speaker

अजुन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Arjuna
• Jayadratha
• Devas (Suras)
• Asuras
• Humans
• Birds
• Serpents (Nāgas/Uraga)
• Pitṛs (ancestors)
• Rajanicaras (night-roaming beings)
• Brahmarṣis
• Devarṣis

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the force of unwavering resolve aligned with a vowed purpose in a dharma-war context: when a warrior’s determination is fixed on just retribution, even vast alliances and cosmic categories are portrayed as powerless to avert the destined outcome.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Drona Parva’s battle sequence, Arjuna is pursuing Jayadratha with a fierce vow to slay him. Here Arjuna declares that no being—divine, demonic, human, or otherwise, including sages and even the totality of the moving and unmoving world—can protect Jayadratha from him.