Shloka 12
Śalya’s Consecration as Senāpati and Kṛṣṇa’s Counsel to Yudhiṣṭhira (शल्यस्य सेनापत्यभिषेकः)
सुवृत्तोरुकटीजड्घं सुपादं स्वड्गुलीनखम् | स्मृत्वा स्मृत्वैव तु गुणान् धात्रा यत्नाद् विनिर्मितम्
suvṛttorukaṭījaḍghaṃ supādaṃ svaṅgulīnakhām | smṛtvā smṛtvaiva tu guṇān dhātrā yatnād vinirmitām
サञ्जयは語った。「彼女はよく丸みを帯びた腿、広い腰、引き締まった脛を備え、足は美しく、趾も爪も繊細であった。その徳を思い返してはまた思い返すうちに、人は、創造主が心を尽くして丹念に作り上げたのだとさえ思うであろう。」
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links outer beauty with inner excellence: repeated remembrance of a person’s guṇas (virtues) deepens admiration beyond mere appearance, and frames excellence as something aligned with dhātṛ (providential order), encouraging reverence for cultivated virtue amid the harshness of war.
Sañjaya describes an admired woman (implied from context) by detailing her graceful physical features and then emphasizing that her virtues, recalled again and again, make her seem as though the Creator carefully fashioned her—an encomium that heightens emotional and ethical contrast within the war narrative.