Shloka 52
उद्योगपर्व — अध्याय १४० (कृष्णेन कर्णं प्रति पाण्डवबल-वैशिष्ट्यप्रदर्शनम्) / Udyoga Parva, Chapter 140
Krishna’s appraisal of Pandava advantage and war portents
केशव! जिनके पति, पुत्र और संरक्षक मार दिये गये होंगे, वे धृतराष्ट्रके पुत्रों और पौत्रोंकी बहुएँ जब गान्धारीके साथ एकत्र होकर कुत्तों, गीधों और कुरर पक्षियोंसे भरे हुए समरांगणमें रोती हुई विचरेंगी, जनार्दन! वही उस यज्ञका अवभृथस्नान होगा ।।
Keśava! yeṣāṁ patayaḥ putrāś ca pālakāś ca hata-bhaviṣyanti, tā dhṛtarāṣṭra-putra-pautrāṇāṁ snuṣāḥ gāndhāryā sahaikatrībhūya śva-gṛdhra-kurara-saṅkīrṇe samara-aṅgaṇe rudantyo vicarantyaḥ, Janārdana, tad eva tasya yajñasya avabhṛtha-snānaṁ bhaviṣyati. Vidyā-vṛddhā vayaḥ-vṛddhāḥ kṣatriyāḥ kṣatriyarṣabha; vṛthā mṛtyuṁ na kurvīriḥ tvat-kṛte, Madhusūdana.
ケーシャヴァよ。あの女たちの夫、子、守護者が討たれたのち、ドリタラーシュトラの子らと孫らの嫁たちはガーンダーリーとともに集い、犬と禿鷲とクルラ鳥の群れる戦場を、泣きながらさまよい歩くであろう。ジャナールダナよ――それこそが、その祭祀の「アヴァブリタの沐浴」なのだ。クシャトリヤの雄牛よ、マドゥスーダナよ。そなたのために、学識あり老いたクシャトリヤたちがむなしい死を遂げぬようにせよ。そなたの和平の企てが、武人たちから戦場にふさわしい死を奪うことになってはならぬ。
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse warns that political ‘peace-making’ which ignores entrenched injustice can still culminate in catastrophic war; it frames the moral cost vividly—women’s grief amid carrion on the battlefield—and questions whether delaying or mishandling the crisis causes honorable warriors (especially learned and elderly kṣatriyas) to meet a pointless end rather than a meaningful, dharma-consistent outcome.
Karna addresses Kṛṣṇa during the Udyoga Parva context of negotiations and impending war. He predicts the horrific aftermath if the Kaurava conflict proceeds—Gāndhārī and the Kaurava daughters-in-law roaming and weeping on a corpse-strewn field—and uses a sacrificial metaphor (avabhṛtha-snāna) to underscore the grim ‘conclusion’ of the war-sacrifice, while cautioning Kṛṣṇa that his peace efforts should not inadvertently lead to a futile loss of kṣatriya lives.