Shloka 17

Devanagari script

निहता: पुरुषेन्द्रेण तच्चापि विदितं तव । 'पुरुषश्रेष्ठ अर्जुनने उस समय यक्ष, नाग, दैत्य तथा दूसरे भी जो बलका घमंड रखनेवाले वीर थे, उन सबको मार डाला था। यह बात तुम्हें मालूम ही है ।। गन्धर्वा घोषयात्रायां चित्रसेनादयो जिता:

Transliteration

nihatāḥ puruṣendreṇa taccāpi viditaṃ tava | gandharvā ghoṣayātrāyāṃ citrasenādayo jitāḥ ||

Translation

サンジャヤは言った。「その猛き者どもは、人の中の最上たる者によって討たれた。これもまた汝の知るところである。さらに『ゴーシャ・ヤートラー』の折には、ガンダルヴァ――チトラセーナら――もまた打ち負かされた。」

Word by Word

निहताःslain (were)

पुरुषेन्द्रेणby the lord among men (best of men)

तत्that

चand

अपिalso / indeed

विदितम्known

तवto you / of you

गन्धर्वाःGandharvas

घोषयात्रायाम्in the (cattle-)proclamation expedition

चित्रसेनादयःChitrasena and others

जिताःconquered / defeated

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Arjuna (implied as puruṣendra/puruṣaśreṣṭha in context)

Gandharvas

Citraseṇa

Ghoṣa-yātrā

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores how a warrior’s established deeds and reputation function as moral and strategic evidence in later crises: past victories are recalled to affirm capability, inspire confidence, and frame present events within a remembered ethical-historical record.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reminds Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the hero had already slain powerful opponents, and that Dhṛtarāṣṭra knows this. He cites the earlier Ghoṣa-yātrā episode, where Citraseṇa and other Gandharvas were defeated, as a precedent for the hero’s prowess.