Shloka 46

Droṇa’s Conditional Boon: The Plan to Capture Yudhiṣṭhira (द्रोणेन युधिष्ठिरग्रहणोपायः)

Devanagari script

यां तां श्रियमसूयाम: पुरा दृष्टवा युधिषछ्टिरे

Transliteration

yāṃ tāṃ śriyam asūyāmaḥ purā dṛṣṭvā yudhiṣṭhire

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “O Yudhiṣṭhira, that very prosperity and splendor which we once beheld and even begrudged—”

Word by Word

• याम्: whom/which
• याम्: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: यद्
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• ताम्: that (very)
• ताम्: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• श्रियम्: prosperity, splendor, fortune
• श्रियम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: श्री
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• असूयामः: we (are) envious / envies
• असूयामः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: असूया
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

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

• दृष्ट्वा: having seen
• दृष्ट्वा: Karana
• Type: Verb
• Root: दृश्
• Form: क्त्वा (absolutive/gerund), Parasmaipada (usage-neutral here), Singular (indeclinable form)

• युधिष्ठिरः: Yudhiṣṭhira
• युधिष्ठिरः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: युधिष्ठिर
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Yudhiṣṭhira
• Śrī (prosperity/royal fortune)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The line points to the ethical danger of asūyā (envy/resentment): worldly śrī (prosperity and power) is unstable, and begrudging another’s fortune becomes a moral fault that later ripens into suffering and conflict.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana addresses Yudhiṣṭhira and begins recalling a past scene of great royal prosperity that was once witnessed—and even envied—setting up a contrast between former splendor and the present devastation of war.