Shloka 10

Devanagari script

वन॑ प्रत्राजिताश्षास्म वल्कलाजिनवासस: । अनर्हमाणास्तं भावं॑ त्रयोदश समा: परै:,'परंतु धर्ममें तत्पर रहनेपर भी जो शत्रुओंने अधर्मसे हमारा राज्य छीन लिया, द्रौपदीको सभामें लाकर अपमानित किया तथा हमें वलकल और मृगचर्म पहनाकर तेरह वर्षोके लिये जो वनमें निर्वासित कर दिया, हम वैसे बर्तावके योग्य कदापि नहीं थे

Transliteration

vanaṁ pratrājitāś cāsmā valkalājinavāsasaḥ | anarhamāṇās taṁ bhāvaṁ trayodaśa samāḥ paraiḥ ||

Translation

Sañjaya said: “We were driven into the forest, made to wear garments of bark and deer-skin, and forced by our enemies to endure that condition for thirteen years—though we did not deserve such treatment. Even while we remained devoted to dharma, they seized our kingdom through unrighteous means and humiliated Draupadī by bringing her into the assembly.”

Word by Word

• {'vanam': 'the forest

• wilderness (place of exile)', 'pratrājitāḥ': 'driven out

• banished', 'ca': 'and', 'asmāḥ (sma)': 'we (emphatic particle with pronoun sense in context)', 'valkala': 'bark-garment

• clothing made from tree bark', 'ājina': 'deer-skin

• animal hide used as a garment', 'vāsasaḥ': 'wearing garments

• clothed in', 'anarhamāṇāḥ': 'not deserving

• unworthy (of such treatment)', 'tam bhāvam': 'that condition/state

• that humiliating situation', 'trayodaśa': 'thirteen', 'samāḥ': 'years', 'paraiḥ': 'by others

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• the Pāṇḍavas (implied by 'we')
• Draupadī (from the cited contextual gloss)
• enemies (paraiḥ)
• forest (vana)
• bark-garments (valkala)
• deer-skins (ājina)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse contrasts steadfast commitment to dharma with the reality of suffering inflicted through adharma: moral conduct does not guarantee immediate worldly protection, and unjust actions—seizing a kingdom, public humiliation, forced exile—create ethical debt that demands reckoning.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya summarizes the Pāṇḍavas’ grievance: despite their dharmic conduct, their enemies wrongfully took their kingdom and compelled them to live as forest-exiles for thirteen years, wearing ascetic bark and deer-skin garments—an undeserved humiliation that frames the later violence of the war.