Shloka 186

Sauptika Parva, Adhyaya 8 — Dhṛṣṭadyumna-vadha and the Camp’s Nocturnal Rout

Devanagari script

नदन्तं विस्फुरन्तं च पशुमारममारयत्‌ । राजन! उसने पैरसे उसकी छाती और गला दोनोंको दबा दिया और उसे पशुकी तरह मारना आरम्भ किया। वह बेचारा चीखता और छटपटाता रह गया

Transliteration

nadantaṃ visphurantaṃ ca paśum āramamārayat | rājan! asne pādaiḥ tasya chātīṃ ca galaṃ ca ubhayaṃ pīḍayitvā taṃ paśuvat hantum ārabdhavān; sa tu dīnaḥ krośan vikṣipya caiva vyathitaḥ

Translation

ಗರ್ಜಿಸುತ್ತಾ ತೊಳಲಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದರೂ ಅವನು ಪಶುವಿನಂತೆ ಕೊಲ್ಲಲ್ಪಟ್ಟನು. ಓ ರಾಜನೇ! ಕಾಲುಗಳಿಂದ ಅವನ ಎದೆ ಮತ್ತು ಗಂಟಲನ್ನು ಒತ್ತಿಹಿಡಿದು, ಪಶುವನ್ನು ಕೊಲ್ಲುವಂತೆ ಅವನನ್ನು ಕೊಲ್ಲಲು ಆರಂಭಿಸಿದನು; ಆ ದುರ್ದೈವಿ ಕೇವಲ ಕೂಗುತ್ತಾ ತೊಳಲಾಡುತ್ತಲೇ ಉಳಿದನು.

Word by Word

• नदन्तम्: roaring/crying (him)
• नदन्तम्: Karma
• Type: Verb
• Root: नद् (धातु)
• Form: शतृ (वर्तमान कृदन्त), पुं, द्वितीया, एकवचन

• विस्फुरन्तम्: struggling/twitching (him)
• विस्फुरन्तम्: Karma
• Type: Verb
• Root: विस्फुर् (धातु)
• Form: शतृ (वर्तमान कृदन्त), पुं, द्वितीया, एकवचन

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

• पशुमारम्: Pashumara (a name/epithet)
• पशुमारम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: पशुमार (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुं, द्वितीया, एकवचन

• अमारयत्: killed/caused to die
• Type: Verb
• Root: मृ (धातु) [णिच्: मारय-]
• Form: लङ् (अनद्यतन भूत), परस्मैपद, प्रथम, एकवचन

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra (addressed as rājan)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how, when dharma and self-restraint collapse in war’s aftermath, violence becomes dehumanizing—treating a person ‘like an animal’—and thus signals an ethical descent (adharma) rather than heroic conduct.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sanjaya describes a brutal killing: the victim cries and convulses while the attacker pins him down by pressing on his chest and throat with his feet and kills him in a beast-like manner, reporting this to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra.