Shloka 42

Śiva’s Battlefield Manifestation and Vyāsa’s Śatarudrīya Exposition (शिवप्रादुर्भावः शतरुद्रीयव्याख्यानम्)

Devanagari script

तद्‌ बल॑ भरतश्रेष्ठ वध्यमानं तदा निशि

Transliteration

tad balaṁ bharataśreṣṭha vadhyamānaṁ tadā niśi

Translation

サञ्जयは言った。「バーラタ族の最勝者よ、その軍勢は夜の闇の中で斬り伏せられ、滅ぼされつつあった……」（語りはなお続く）。戦の混乱のただ中で行われる夜襲の殺戮が孕む、陰惨な倫理の緊張を浮かび上がらせる。

Word by Word

• तत्: that
• तत्: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

• बलम्: army; force
• बलम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: बल
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• भरतश्रेष्ठ: O best of the Bharatas
• Type: Noun (vocative epithet)
• Root: भरत-श्रेष्ठ
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• वध्यमानम्: being slain; being killed
• वध्यमानम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective/Participle
• Root: वध्यमान (√वध्)
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• तदा: then
• तदा: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तदा

• निशि: at night
• निशि: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: निशा
• Form: Feminine, Locative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by the address bharataśreṣṭha)
• bala (the army/force; unspecified here)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the moral strain of warfare when violence continues under cover of night: even in a kṣatriya conflict governed by norms, chaos and darkness can blur restraint, raising questions of dharma and accountability.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that a certain army/force is being slaughtered at night, setting a grim scene of nocturnal fighting and the resulting devastation.