Shloka 71

भीमसेनस्य बहुमहारथसंयुगः

Bhīmasena’s Engagement with Multiple Mahārathas

Devanagari script

निःश्वसन्तं यथा नागमर्जुन: प्रणयात्‌ सखा । निवर्तस्व महाबाहो नानृतं कर्तुमहसि,उस समय श्रीकृष्णके नेत्र क्रोधसे व्याप्त हो रहे थे और वे फुफकारते हुए सर्पके समान लम्बी साँस खींच रहे थे। उनके सखा अर्जुन आर्तभावसे प्रेमपूर्वक बोले--“महाबाहो! लौटिये, अपनी प्रतिज्ञाको झूठी न कीजिये

Transliteration

niḥśvasantaṃ yathā nāgam arjunaḥ praṇayāt sakhā | nivartasva mahābāho nānṛtaṃ kartum arhasi ||

Translation

Sañjaya said: Seeing him heaving long breaths like a hissing serpent, Arjuna—his intimate friend—spoke with affectionate urgency: “Mighty-armed one, turn back. You ought not make your vow untrue.” The moment frames a moral appeal amid rising wrath: friendship and dharma restrain a warrior’s anger, insisting that even in war one must not violate one’s pledged word.

Word by Word

• {'niḥśvasantam': 'breathing out heavily

• heaving long breaths (accusative singular, present participle)', 'yathā': 'like

• as', 'nāgam': 'serpent

• nāga (accusative singular)', 'arjunaḥ': 'Arjuna (nominative singular)', 'praṇayāt': 'out of affection/intimacy

• from loving regard (ablative singular)', 'sakhā': 'friend (nominative singular)', 'nivartasva': 'turn back

• withdraw (2nd person singular, imperative, middle)', 'mahābāho': 'O mighty-armed one (vocative singular

• epithet of a great warrior, here addressed to Kṛṣṇa in context)', 'na': 'not', 'anṛtam': 'untruth

• that which makes a statement/vow false (accusative singular)', 'kartum': 'to do

• to make (infinitive)', 'arhasi': 'you ought

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Arjuna
• Kṛṣṇa (implied by context as the one addressed/observed)
• nāga (serpent, as simile)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even in the heat of battle, one must not abandon truthfulness and fidelity to one’s pledged word; righteous conduct (dharma) includes restraining anger and ensuring that a vow is not rendered false.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes a moment of intense wrath (the addressed hero breathing like a serpent). Arjuna, as a close friend, urgently asks him to turn back and not act in a way that would make his vow untrue—an appeal to ethical consistency amid escalating conflict.