Shloka 37

Devanagari script

पूर्व: पूर्वतरै: प्रोक्ते परै: परतरैरपि । शाश्व॒तं चाव्ययं चैव प्रजापतिविनिर्मितम्‌,स्वयं विधाताने जिसकी सृष्टि की है, प्राचीन और अत्यन्त प्राचीन पुरुषोंने जिसका वर्णन किया है, परवर्ती और अतिपरवर्ती सत्पुरुष जिसका वर्णन करेंगे तथा जो चिरन्तन एवं अविनाशी है, उस सनातन और उत्तम क्षत्रिय-हृदयको मैं जानती हूँ

Transliteration

pūrvaḥ pūrvataraiḥ prokte paraiḥ paratarair api | śāśvataṃ cāvyayaṃ caiva prajāpati-vinirmitaṃ svayaṃ vidhātānaṃ |

Translation

先の者が語り、さらに先の古人も語った。後の者も語り、さらに後の賢者も語り継ぐであろう。それは常住にして不変、プラジャーパティの造りたまいしもの。自ら生じ、自らを支える。時を超えて崇高なるクシャトリヤの霊——ダルマに堅く立つ高貴な戦士の心——それをわたしは知る。

Word by Word

• {'pūrvaḥ': 'the ancient one

• the primordial (person/principle)', 'pūrvataraiḥ': 'by those more ancient

• by earlier elders', 'prokte': 'spoken of

• taught', 'paraiḥ': 'by later people

• by successors', 'parataraiḥ': 'by those even later

• by still later generations', 'api': 'also

• even', 'śāśvatam': 'eternal

• everlasting', 'avyayam': 'imperishable

• undecaying', 'ca ... eva': 'and indeed

• and also', 'prajāpati-vinirmitam': 'fashioned/created by Prajāpati (the Lord of creatures)', 'svayam': 'by oneself

• self-', 'vidhātānam': 'the ordainer

Speaker

पुत्र उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Prajāpati
• Vidhātṛ (the Ordainer)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse affirms an eternal, imperishable principle/person recognized across generations of sages and upheld as the true foundation of righteous kṣatriya resolve—steadfastness in dharma grounded in what is timeless rather than merely expedient.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Udyoga Parva’s counsel-laden setting before war, the speaker (the son) invokes an ancient, universally attested authority—eternal and divinely ordained—to validate a moral stance and the ideal of the noble warrior’s heart aligned with dharma.