Shloka 6

Devanagari script

तथा तत्‌ पौरुष॑ राजंस्तावकानां परंतप । प्राप्प पाण्डुसुतान्‌ वीरान्‌ व्यर्थ भवति संयुगे,परंतप! नरेश! जैसे देवनदी गंगाजीका जल स्वादिष्ट होकर भी महासागरके संयोगसे उसीके गुणका सम्मिश्रण हो जानेके कारण खारा हो जाता है, उसी प्रकार आपके पुत्रोंका पुरुषार्थ युद्धमें वीर पाण्डवोंतक पहुँचकर व्यर्थ हो जाता है

Transliteration

tathā tat pauruṣaṁ rājan tāvakānāṁ parantapa | prāpya pāṇḍusutān vīrān vyarthaṁ bhavati saṁyuge ||

Translation

Sañjaya said: “So too, O king, O scorcher of foes: the valor of your men, when it meets the heroic sons of Pāṇḍu in battle, becomes fruitless. Just as the sweet waters of the divine river Gaṅgā, upon joining the great ocean, lose their distinct sweetness and take on the ocean’s salinity, so does the effort of the Kaurava host, on reaching the Pāṇḍavas, get absorbed and nullified.”

Word by Word

[{'term''tathā', 'definition': 'thus

in the same way'}, {'term''tat', 'definition': 'that (referring to the just-given comparison)'}, {'term': 'pauruṣam', 'definition': 'manly effort

prowess'}, {'term''rājan', 'definition': 'O king (vocative)'}, {'term': 'tāvakānām', 'definition': 'of yours

of your side/men (Kauravas)'}, {'term''parantapa', 'definition': 'O scorcher of foes (epithet of the king)'}, {'term': 'prāpya', 'definition': 'having reached

upon encountering'}, {'term''pāṇḍusutān', 'definition': 'the sons of Pāṇḍu (the Pāṇḍavas)'}, {'term': 'vīrān', 'definition': 'heroes

brave warriors'}, {'term''vyartham', 'definition': 'in vain

ineffective'}, {'term''bhavati', 'definition': 'becomes

proves to be'}, {'term''saṁyuge', 'definition': 'in battle

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by 'rājan' and 'parantapa')

Kauravas (tāvakāḥ)

Pāṇḍavas (pāṇḍusutāḥ)

Gaṅgā (from the given simile/explanatory gloss)

Ocean/Sea (from the given simile/explanatory gloss)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Mere effort or numerical strength does not guarantee success; when confronted by a superior force (here, the Pāṇḍavas’ heroism), the opponent’s valor can be rendered ineffective—like a river’s sweetness losing its distinctness upon merging into the sea.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to the king that the Kaurava warriors’ attempts in the ongoing battle are being neutralized upon meeting the Pāṇḍavas, emphasizing the Pāṇḍavas’ dominance through a vivid comparison.