Shloka 10

Devanagari script

धृतराष्ट उवाच दैवेनोपहता यूय॑ स्वबुद्धया केशवस्य च । गता हि वासवी हत्वा तृणभूतं घटोत्कचम्‌,धृतराष्ट्र बोले--संजय! निश्चय ही तुमलोग दैवके द्वारा मारे गये थे। श्रीकृष्णकी अपनी बुद्धिसे वह इन्द्रकी शक्ति तिनकेके समान घटोत्कचका वध करके चली गयी

Transliteration

dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca | daivenopahatā yūyaṁ svabuddhyā keśavasya ca | gatā hi vāsavī hatvā tṛṇabhūtaṁ ghaṭotkacam ||

Translation

Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “Sañjaya, you were surely struck down by fate—and also by Keśava’s own strategy. For Indra’s divine missile, after killing Ghaṭotkaca who had been made as insignificant as a blade of grass, has now been spent and is gone.”

Word by Word

धृतराष्ट्रःDhṛtarāṣṭra

उवाचsaid

दैवेनby fate / by divine ordinance

उपहताstruck down, afflicted

यूयम्you (all)

स्वबुद्धयाby (his) own intellect

केशवस्यof Keśava (Kṛṣṇa)

चand

गताwent away / departed

हिindeed, for

वासवीthe (weapon) of Vāsava (Indra’s śakti)

हत्वाhaving slain

तृणभूतम्become like grass (i.e., as insignificant as straw)

घटोत्कचम्Ghaṭotkaca

Speaker

धृतराष्ट उवाच

Characters & Entities

Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Sañjaya

Keśava (Kṛṣṇa)

Vāsavī-śakti (Indra’s missile)

Ghaṭotkaca

Indra (Vāsava)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the Mahābhārata’s tension between daiva (fate) and puruṣakāra (human agency): outcomes in war are seen as shaped both by destiny and by deliberate, ethically charged strategy—here attributed to Kṛṣṇa’s intelligence in ensuring a decisive divine weapon is expended.

What is happening in the narrative?

Dhṛtarāṣṭra tells Sañjaya that the opposing side has been ‘struck by fate’ and by Kṛṣṇa’s planning, because Indra’s Vāsavī-śakti has been used up after killing Ghaṭotkaca; the implication is that a major threat has been removed and a unique weapon has been expended.