Shloka 19

Devanagari script

यावत्‌ ते पृथिवीं पार्था हत्वा भ्रातृशतं रणे

Transliteration

yāvat te pṛthivīṃ pārthā hatvā bhrātṛśataṃ raṇe

Translation

Sañjaya said: “So long as you, O Pārthas, have slain a hundred brothers in battle and brought the earth under your sway…”

Word by Word

• यावत्: as long as; until
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यावत्
• Form: अव्यय (सम्बन्ध/परिमाण/अवधि सूचक)

• ते: to you / for you
• ते: Sampradana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: युष्मद्
• Form: षष्ठी/चतुर्थी एकवचन (enclitic 'te')

• पृथिवीम्: the earth
• पृथिवीम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: पृथिवी
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया एकवचन

• पार्थाः: O sons of Pritha (Pandavas)
• पार्थाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: पार्थ
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा बहुवचन (सम्बोधनार्थे/उद्बोधन-प्रायः)

• हत्वा: having slain
• Type: Verb
• Root: हन्
• Form: क्त्वान्त अव्यय (absolutive/gerund): having slain

• भ्रातृशतम्: a hundred brothers
• भ्रातृशतम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: भ्रातृ-शत
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया एकवचन

• रणे: in battle
• रणे: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: रण
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सप्तमी एकवचन

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Pārthas (Pāṇḍavas)
• Pṛthivī (the earth/kingdom)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The line underscores the ethical tension of royal ambition achieved through fratricidal warfare: even when political sovereignty (‘the earth’) is gained, the cost—slaying one’s own kin—casts a shadow over victory and invites reflection on dharma in war.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya is reporting to Dhṛtarāṣṭra and begins a conditional/temporal statement describing the Pāṇḍavas’ battlefield actions—having killed a large number of ‘brothers’ (kinsmen/warriors) and thereby securing dominion—setting up the continuation of the account in the following pādas/verses.