Shloka 65

Duryodhana’s Śaraṇāgati and the Pāṇḍavas’ Resolve

Gandharva Encounter

Devanagari script

निकृत्तयोधनागाश्चं कृत्तायुधमहारथम्‌

Transliteration

nikṛttayodhanāgāś ca kṛttāyudhamahāratham

Translation

マールカンデーヤは語った。「そこには、乗り手の戦士が斬り伏せられた戦象があり、また、武器をことごとく断ち落とされた大車戦の勇者もいた。」この一句は、戦の陰鬱な倫理の気配—力と武勇が無力へと貶められるさま—を呼び起こし、暴力の破滅的な代償と武の誇りの脆さを繰り返し戒める『マハーバーラタ』の警告を際立たせる。

Word by Word

• निकृत्त: cut down, slain
• निकृत्त: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: नि√कृत् (कृत्त)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• योधनागाः: war-elephants (battle-elephants)
• योधनागाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: योधनाग
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• कृत्त: cut off, severed
• कृत्त: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: √कृत् (कृत्त)
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• आयुध: weapon
• आयुध: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: आयुध
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• महारथम्: great chariot-warrior
• महारथम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: महारथ
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

Speaker

मार्कण्डेय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Mārkaṇḍeya
• war-elephants (nāgāḥ)
• great chariot-warrior (mahārathaḥ)
• weapons (āyudhāni)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the devastating reversals of war: even mighty forces—war-elephants and elite chariot-warriors—can be rendered powerless. It supports the epic’s ethical reflection that violence brings ruin and that martial glory is unstable and costly.

What is happening in the narrative?

Mārkaṇḍeya is describing a battlefield scene: elephants stand with their fighters slain, and a foremost chariot-warrior is left with weapons cut away—an image of defeat and the brutal aftermath of combat.