Shloka 11

मārkaṇḍeya-ukta yuddha-vyūha-pratyavyūhaḥ

Battle Formations and Countermeasures in the Rāmopākhyāna

Devanagari script

वयं पुन: सप्तदशेषु कृष्णे कुलेषु सर्वेडनवमेषु जाता: । षड्भ्यो गुणेभ्यो5भ्यधिका विहीनान्‌ मन्यामहे द्रौपदि पाण्डुपुत्रान्‌,ट्रपदकुमारी कृष्णे! हम सब लोग जन श्रेष्ठ कुलोंमें उत्पन्न हुए हैं, जो सत्रह* गुणोंसे सम्पन्न हैं। इसके सिवा हम छः गुणोंको पाकर पाण्डवोंसे बढ़े-चढ़े हैं; अतः उन्हें अपनेसे हीन मानते हैं

Transliteration

jayadratha uvāca | vayaṃ punaḥ saptadaśeṣu kṛṣṇe kuleṣu sarve navameṣu jātāḥ | ṣaḍbhyo guṇebhyo 'bhyadhikā vihīnān manyāmahe draupadi pāṇḍuputrān |

Translation

Jayadratha said: “O Kṛṣṇā (Draupadī)! We are all born in noble lineages, counted among the seventeen (esteemed) clans. Moreover, possessing six additional excellences, we consider the sons of Pāṇḍu inferior to ourselves.” In the ethical frame of the episode, Jayadratha’s speech reveals pride of birth and self-assessed merit as a justification for disrespecting the Pāṇḍavas—an attitude that the narrative later exposes as adharma and a cause of downfall.

Word by Word

• {'jayadratha uvāca': 'Jayadratha said', 'vayam': 'we', 'punaḥ': 'again

• moreover', 'saptadaśeṣu': 'among seventeen', 'kuleṣu': 'in clans/lineages

• noble families', 'kṛṣṇe': 'O Kṛṣṇā

• vocative of Kṛṣṇā (Draupadī)', 'sarve': 'all (of us)', 'navameṣu': 'among the foremost/excellent (lit. ‘in the ninths’

• used here as a classificatory boast in the received text)', 'jātāḥ': 'born', 'ṣaḍbhyaḥ': 'from/with six', 'guṇebhyaḥ': 'qualities, excellences, virtues', 'abhyadhikāḥ': 'superior

• exceeding', 'vihīnān': 'deficient

• inferior', 'manyāmahe': 'we think/consider', 'draupadi': 'O Draupadī', 'pāṇḍuputrān': 'the sons of Pāṇḍu (the Pāṇḍavas)'}

Speaker

जयद्रथ उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Jayadratha
• Draupadī (Kṛṣṇā)
• Pāṇḍavas (sons of Pāṇḍu)
• Pāṇḍu