Shloka 2

Devanagari script

यो बिभेद चमूमेको मम पुत्रस्य दुर्भिदाम्‌ । स भूत्वा मृत्युरन्येषां स्वयं मृत्युवशं गत:,गान्धारी बोलीं--दशा्ईनन्दन केशव! जिसे बल और शौर्यमें अपने पितासे तथा तुमसे भी डेढ़ गुना बताया जाता था, जो प्रचण्ड सिंहके समान अभिमानमें भरा रहता था, जिसने अकेले ही मेरे पुत्रके दुर्भद्य व्यूहको तोड़ डाला था, वही अभिमन्यु दूसरोंकी मृत्यु बनकर स्वयं भी मृत्युके अधीन हो गया

Transliteration

yo bibheda camūm eko mama putrasya durbhidām | sa bhūtvā mṛtyur anyeṣāṃ svayaṃ mṛtyuvaśaṃ gataḥ ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “He who, all alone, shattered the hard-to-break battle-array of my son—becoming death to many others—has himself gone under the dominion of death.”

Word by Word

यःwho

बिभेदbroke, split, pierced

चमूम्army

एकःalone, single-handed

ममof me, my

पुत्रस्यof (my) son

दुर्भिदाम्hard-to-break (formation)

सःhe

भूत्वाhaving become

मृत्युःdeath (as a slayer)

अन्येषाम्of others

स्वयम्himself

मृत्युवशम्under the power of death

गतःgone, fallen (into)

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Gāndhārī

Abhimanyu

Duryodhana

Kṛṣṇa

Kaurava army (battle-array/vyūha)

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?

Even the mightiest warrior who becomes “death” to others cannot escape death himself; the verse underscores the inevitability of mortality and the tragic cost of war, tempering pride in power with awareness of impermanence.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Strī Parva’s lamentation context, the speaker recalls Abhimanyu’s feat of breaking the Kauravas’ difficult battle formation single-handedly, yet notes the bitter irony that he too was ultimately slain—highlighting the sorrow and moral devastation following the war.