Mahabharata 9.65.303 — Shalya Parva, Adhyaya 65, Shloka 303

Devanagari script

यतितं विजये नित्य दैवं तु दुरतिक्रमम्‌ । “आपलोगोंने अपने स्वरूपके अनुरूप योग्य पराक्रम प्रकट किया और सदा मुझे विजय दिलानेकी ही चेष्टा की; तथापि दैवके विधानका उल्लंघन करना किसीके लिये भी सर्वथा कठिन है”

Transliteration

yatitaṃ vijaye nityaṃ daivaṃ tu duratikramam |

Translation

サञ्जयは言った。「汝らは常に勝利のために努めた。だが、運命の定めを踏み越えることは、いかなる者にもきわめて難しい。」

Word by Word

• यतितम्: effort made / striven
• यतितम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: यतित (कृदन्त-प्रातिपदिक; धातु: यत्/यत्-प्रयत्ने)
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• विजये: in victory / in winning
• विजये: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: विजय
• Form: Masculine, Locative, Singular

• नित्य: always
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: नित्य

• दैवम्: fate / divine ordinance
• दैवम्: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: दैव
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• तु: but
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तु

• दुरतिक्रमम्: hard to transgress / insurmountable
• दुरतिक्रमम्: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: दुरतिक्रम (दुर् + अतिक्रम)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• daiva (fate/destiny)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even sustained human effort toward a goal (here, victory in war) can be thwarted by daiva—destiny or divine ordinance—whose course is portrayed as extremely difficult to override; the verse frames a moral tension between personal agency and the limits imposed by fate.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya, narrating events to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, reflects that the warriors made continual efforts for victory, yet the outcome is constrained by destiny; it functions as a sober commentary on the unfolding defeat and the inevitability felt in the war’s conclusion.