Shloka 17

Devanagari script

अतः इनके विषयमें “मृत” शब्द सार्थक हो रहा है। ये भयंकर पराक्रमी भूमिपाल प्राय: “मर गये” कहे जाते हैं ।। निश्चेष्टा निरभीमाना: शूरा: शत्रुवशंगता: । राजपुत्राश्व संरब्धा वैश्वानरमुखं गता:,ये शूरवीर राजकुमार चेष्टा और अभिमानसे रहित हो शत्रुओंके अधीन हो गये थे। वे कुपित होकर बाणोंकी आगमें कूद पड़े थे

Transliteration

niśceṣṭā nirabhīmānāḥ śūrāḥ śatruvaśaṅgatāḥ | rājaputrāś ca saṃrabdhā vaiśvānaramukhaṃ gatāḥ ||

Translation

Yudhiṣṭhira said: Those heroes, stripped of all movement and pride, had fallen under the enemy’s control. The royal princes, inflamed with wrath, rushed into the very mouth of Vaiśvānara—into the fire of arrows—so that they are, in effect, spoken of as ‘dead.’ The passage underscores the grim truth of war: when valor is overpowered and agency is lost, even the mighty are counted among the slain.

Word by Word

निश्चेष्टाःmotionless, inactive

निरभीमानाःwithout pride/without self-conceit

शूराःheroes, brave men

शत्रु-वशम्-गताःgone under the control of enemies

राज-पुत्राःprinces, sons of kings

अश्व-संरब्धाःenraged/impetuous like horses (or: with horses aroused)

वैश्वानर-मुखम्the mouth of Vaiśvānara (fire), fire’s mouth

गताःgone, entered

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Yudhiṣṭhira

Vaiśvānara (Agni, fire)

rājaputrāḥ (princes)

śatravaḥ (enemies)

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 how, in war, loss of agency and subjugation can render even the brave effectively ‘dead’ in social and moral reckoning; wrath-driven plunges into destruction (likened to entering the mouth of fire) show how anger accelerates ruin and eclipses discernment.

What is happening in the narrative?

Yudhiṣṭhira describes warriors—especially royal princes—who have become powerless under enemy domination; enraged, they rush into lethal danger, metaphorically entering the mouth of Vaiśvānara (the consuming fire), i.e., the blazing ‘fire’ of weapons, and thus are spoken of as dead.