Shloka 146

कर्णपरर्वणि त्रयोचत्वारिंशदध्यायः (Karṇa-parva Adhyāya 43) — Kṛṣṇa’s Battlefield Assessment and the Reversal Around Bhīma

Devanagari script

आक्रोशन्त्य: प्रनृत्यन्ति व्रात्या पर्वस्वसंयता: । “मदसे उन्मत्त होकर परस्पर सरस विनोदयुक्त बातें करती हुई वे एक-दूसरीको 'ओ घायल की हुई! ओ किसीकी मारी हुई! हे पतिमर्दिते!” इत्यादि कहकर पुकारती और नृत्य करती हैं। पर्वों और त्योहारोंक अवसरपर तो उन संस्कारहीन रमणियोंके संयमका बाँध और भी टूट जाता है

Transliteration

ākrośantyaḥ pranṛtyanti vrātyāḥ parvasv asaṃyatāḥ |

Translation

Karna said: “Those unrestrained, uncultured women shout and dance about. At festival times their self-control breaks down even more; in drunken frenzy they call out to one another with coarse, taunting cries—‘Wounded one! Slain one! Husband-beaten!’—and trade vulgar jests.” The passage frames such behavior as a sign of moral lapse: intoxication and lack of restraint lead to speech and conduct that violate decorum and self-discipline.

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'ākrośantyaḥ', 'definition': 'shouting, reviling, crying out (fem. nom. pl.)'}, {'term': 'pranṛtyanti', 'definition': 'they dance (intensified/forward motion sense with pra-)'}, {'term': 'vrātyāḥ', 'definition': 'uncultured/outside proper discipline

• socially irregular, unrefined (fem. nom. pl.)'}, {'term': 'parvasu', 'definition': 'on festival days/at festive occasions (loc. pl. of parvan)'}, {'term': 'asaṃyatāḥ', 'definition': 'unrestrained, lacking self-control (fem. nom. pl.)'}]

Speaker

कर्ण उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Karna

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse criticizes loss of saṃyama (self-restraint), especially under intoxication and festive license, showing how uncontrolled speech and behavior become ethically degrading and socially harmful.

What is happening in the narrative?

Karna describes a scene of disorderly women at festival times who, in an unrestrained state, shout insults and dance, using it as an example of moral and behavioral lapse.