Shloka 52

कर्णनिधनश्रवणम् — Hearing of Karṇa’s Fall and Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Lament

Devanagari script

एते चान्ये च बहवो राजान: सगणा रणे । हता: सहस््रशो राजन्‌ यन्मां त्वं परिपृच्छसि

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca |

ete cānye ca bahavo rājānaḥ sagaṇā raṇe |

hatāḥ sahasraśo rājan yan māṃ tvaṃ paripṛcchasi ||

Translation

サンジャヤは言った。「これらの者たち、そしてなお多くの王たちが、従者を伴って戦場で討たれた――王よ、幾千にも及ぶ。そなたが私に問うたことは、すべて語った。互いを殺さんとする欲望に駆られた無数の強者が、すでに死へと赴いたのだ。」

Word by Word

• {'ete': 'these (persons/warriors)', 'anye': 'others', 'bahavaḥ': 'many', 'rājānaḥ': 'kings, rulers', 'sagaṇāḥ': 'with their groups/retinues/forces', 'raṇe': 'in battle, on the battlefield', 'hatāḥ': 'slain, killed', 'sahasraśaḥ': 'by the thousands

• in thousands', 'rājan': 'O King (address to Dhṛtarāṣṭra)', 'yat': 'that which', 'mām': 'me', 'tvam': 'you', 'paripṛcchasi': 'you ask, you inquire'}

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra
• kings (rājānaḥ)
• retinues/armies (gaṇa)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the vast, indiscriminate destruction of war: even kings with full retinues fall in thousands. It implicitly warns of the moral and human cost of violence driven by mutual hatred and the will to kill.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that many kings and warriors, along with their forces, have already been killed on the battlefield in great numbers, and he affirms that he has answered what the king asked.