Shloka 18

द्रोणपर्व — अध्याय ८७: सात्यकेरनुयात्रा

Sātyaki’s resolve and departure to reach Arjuna

Devanagari script

सप्त तन्तून्‌ वितनन्‍्वाना याजका यमुपासते

Transliteration

sapta tantūn vitanvānā yājakā yam upāsate

Translation

सात तंतुओं को फैलाते हुए याजक जिस एक को उपासते हैं।

Word by Word

• सप्त: seven
• सप्त: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सप्त
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• तन्तून्: threads
• तन्तून्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: तन्तु
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• वितन्वाना: spreading out, extending
• वितन्वाना: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: वि + तन्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• याजकाः: sacrificers, priests
• याजकाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: याजक
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• यम्: whom
• यम्: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: यद्
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• उपासते: worship, revere
• Type: Verb
• Root: उप + आस्
• Form: Present, Third, Plural, Atmanepada

Speaker

धृतराष्ट उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Dhṛtarāṣṭra
• yājakāḥ (sacrificers)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse points to a single revered reality approached through ritual symbolism: even complex sacrificial procedures (here, the ‘seven threads’) are ultimately directed toward worship of one supreme object of reverence, emphasizing unity behind ritual forms.

What is happening in the narrative?

Dhṛtarāṣṭra speaks in a reflective, allusive style, invoking a Vedic-ritual image—sacrificers arranging ‘seven threads’—to identify or praise the being whom they worship, situating the discussion in sacred and ethical authority amid the war narrative.