Shloka 42
बोधयन्त्यद्य त॑ नूनं श्वापदा विकृतैः स्वनै: । “जिसे पहले सो जानेपर सूत, मागध और बन्दीजन जगाया करते थे, उसी अभिमन्युको आज निश्चय ही हिंसक जन्तु अपने भयंकर शब्दोंद्वारा जगाते होंगे ।। ४१३ || छत्रच्छायासमुचितं तस्य तद् वदनं शुभम्
bodhayanty adya ta nūnaṁ śvāpadā vikṛtaiḥ svanaiḥ |
Sañjaya said: “Surely today, wild beasts are awakening him with their harsh, distorted cries—him whom, when he slept before, bards, panegyrists, and court-singers used to rouse.” The line underscores the moral inversion wrought by war: a prince once honored by human voices is now attended only by the sounds of the wilderness, suggesting death, abandonment, and the tragic cost of violence.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical and emotional devastation of war: honor and human celebration are replaced by desolation, implying that violence strips life of dignity and reverses the natural order of social care.
Sañjaya describes Abhimanyu’s condition after his fall in battle: instead of being awakened by courtly singers as in his princely life, he is now ‘awakened’ only by the cries of wild beasts—an image of death on the battlefield and abandonment.