Shloka 25

Devanagari script

यथा धनंजय: पार्थस्तपस्वी नियतव्रतः । मुनिरेकचर: श्रीमान्‌ धर्मो विग्रहवानिव

Transliteration

yathā dhanañjayaḥ pārthas tapassvī niyatavrataḥ | munir ekacaraḥ śrīmān dharmo vigrahavān iva ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “Just as Dhanañjaya, the son of Pṛthā, lived like an ascetic—self-disciplined and bound by strict vows—so did he move about alone, radiant in conduct, as though Dharma itself had taken bodily form.”

Word by Word

यथाas, just as

धनंजयःDhanañjaya (Arjuna)

पार्थःPārtha (son of Pṛthā; Arjuna)

तपस्वीascetic, practicing austerities

नियतव्रतःof restrained/observed vows

मुनिःsage

एकचरःsolitary, wandering alone

श्रीमान्splendid, illustrious, endowed with prosperity

धर्मःDharma (personified), righteousness

विग्रहवान्embodied, having a form

इवlike, as if

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Dhanañjaya (Arjuna)

Pṛthā (Kuntī)

Dharma (personified)

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 presents Arjuna as an ethical ideal: true strength is grounded in tapas (austerity), niyama (regulated vows), and solitary self-mastery, so that one’s life appears as an embodiment of dharma rather than mere outward power.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana describes Arjuna’s mode of life at this point in the forest narrative: he is portrayed as wandering alone with the discipline of a sage, his conduct so exemplary that it seems as if Dharma has assumed a visible form.