Shloka 34

भीमसेनस्य बहुमहारथसंयुगः

Bhīmasena’s Engagement with Multiple Mahārathas

Devanagari script

यत्‌ पुरा कथितं वीर राज्ञां तेषां समागमे

Transliteration

yat purā kathitaṃ vīra rājñāṃ teṣāṃ samāgame

Translation

Sanjaya said: “O hero, this is what was formerly recounted—spoken in the assembly where those kings had gathered.”

Word by Word

• यत्: that which
• यत्: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: यद्
• Form: neuter, nominative/accusative, singular

• पुरा: formerly, earlier
• पुरा: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: पुरा

• कथितम्: said, told
• कथितम्: Karma
• Type: Verb
• Root: कथ्
• Form: क्त (past passive participle), neuter, nominative/accusative, singular, passive (participial)

• वीर: O hero
• Type: Noun
• Root: वीर
• Form: masculine, vocative, singular

• राज्ञाम्: of kings
• Type: Noun
• Root: राजन्
• Form: masculine, genitive, plural

• तेषाम्: of those (kings)
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: masculine/neuter, genitive, plural

• समागमे: in the assembly/meeting
• समागमे: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: समागम
• Form: masculine, locative, singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sanjaya
• kings (rājānaḥ)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames the authority of the account by grounding it in prior testimony given in a royal assembly. Ethically, it emphasizes continuity of tradition and the weight of remembered counsel when judging present action.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sanjaya signals that he is about to repeat an earlier statement or episode—something previously narrated in a gathering of kings—thereby introducing or recalling a past discussion relevant to the ongoing war narrative.