Shloka 16

Śoka-śamana: Kṛṣṇa’s Consolation and Nārada’s Exempla to Sṛñjaya

Chapter 29

Devanagari script

मृतान्‌ महानुभावांस्त्व॑ श्रुव्वैव पृथिवीपतीन्‌

Transliteration

mṛtān mahānubhāvāṁs tvaṁ śrutvaiva pṛthivīpatīn

Translation

大いなる魂を備えたあの王たち—大地の主—がすでに死したと聞き、汝はその報せの重みに打たれる。この一句は、死の前に覚える倫理的な衝撃と、いかなる強大な支配者といえども死を超え得ぬという冷厳な悟りを呼び起こす。

Word by Word

• मृतान्: dead
• मृतान्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: मृत (√मृ)
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• महानुभावान्: great-souled, illustrious
• महानुभावान्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: महानुभाव
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• त्व: you
• त्व: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: त्वम्
• Form: —, Nominative, Singular

• श्रुत्वा: having heard
• Type: Verb
• Root: √श्रु
• Form: Absolutive (Gerund), —, —

• एव: indeed, just
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• पृथिवीपतीन्: lords of the earth, kings
• पृथिवीपतीन्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: पृथिवीपति
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyudeva (speaker)
• pṛthivīpati (kings, lords of the earth)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores impermanence: even great kings and powerful rulers are subject to death. Ethically, it invites humility, restraint in pride, and a dharmic perspective that measures life by right conduct rather than worldly status.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyudeva addresses the listener, pointing to the impact of hearing that eminent kings have died. The statement functions as a reflective prompt—turning attention from worldly greatness to the reality of death and the moral seriousness it demands.