Shloka 40

Devanagari script

योधास्ते तु महाराज क्रोधामर्षसमन्विता:,महाराज! क्रोध और अमर्षमें भरे हुए वे परस्पर स्पर्धा रखनेवाले, विजयके लिये प्रयत्मशील और विशाल धनुष धारण करनेवाले धनुर्थर योद्धा मतवाले गजराजोंके समान एक-दूसरेसे जूझ रहे थे

Transliteration

yodhās te tu mahārāja krodhāmarṣa-samanvitāḥ paraspara-spardhino jaya-kṛta-prayatnavantaḥ vipula-dhanur-dhārino dhanurdharā mattā iva gajarājāḥ anyonyaṃ samayudhyanta

Translation

サンジャヤは言った。大王よ、あの戦士たちは――怒りと傷ついた誇りに満ち――互いに競い合い、勝利のために力を尽くしていた。大弓を携えた弓兵たちは、酔い狂う象王が組み合って争うかのように、激しくぶつかり合った。この光景は、ひとたび憤怒と対抗心が解き放たれれば、人は戦場で容赦なき暴力へと駆り立てられることを示している。

Word by Word

• yodhāḥ: warriors
• yodhāḥ: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: yodhá (प्रातिपदिक: योध)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• te: those
• te: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: tad (प्रातिपदिक: तद्)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• tu: but/indeed
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tu

• mahārāja: O great king
• Type: Noun
• Root: mahārāja (प्रातिपदिक: महाराज)
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• krodha-amārṣa-samanvitāḥ: endowed with anger and indignation
• krodha-amārṣa-samanvitāḥ: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: samanvita (कृदन्त; धातु: सम्-√इ (एति) / समन्वि-भावे; प्रातिपदिक: समन्वित)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by 'mahārāja')
• warriors (yodhāḥ)
• bows (dhanuḥ)
• elephant-kings (gajarājāḥ, as simile)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how krodha (anger) and amarṣa (resentful pride) intensify rivalry and propel combatants into destructive, uncontrolled violence—suggesting an ethical warning about passions that eclipse discernment even among disciplined warriors.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes the battlefield where bow-bearing warriors, competing with one another for victory, clash fiercely; their frenzy is compared to intoxicated elephant-kings fighting head-on.