Shloka 216

Devanagari script

अपनेष्यामि गान्धारं घातयित्वा शितै: शरै: । “आज मैं अत्यन्त कुपित हो गान्धारराज शकुनिको पैने बाणोंसे मरवाकर राजा युधिष्ठिरके दीर्घकालीन जागरणरूपी रोगको दूर कर दूँगा

Transliteration

apaneṣyāmi gāndhāraṃ ghātayitvā śitaiḥ śaraiḥ |

Translation

“ತೀಕ್ಷ್ಣ ಬಾಣಗಳಿಂದ ಗಾಂಧಾರರಾಜನನ್ನು ಕೊಲ್ಲಿಸಿ, ನಾನು ಅವನನ್ನು ದೂರಮಾಡುವೆನು.”

Word by Word

अपनेष्यामिI shall remove / take away

गान्धारम्the Gandhāra king (Śakuni) / Gandhāra

घातयित्वाhaving caused to be slain / having had (him) killed

शितैःwith sharp

शरैःarrows

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Gandhāra

Śakuni

Yudhiṣṭhira

arrows (śara)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames the slaying of a perceived instigator (Śakuni) as a remedy for a king’s moral-psychological suffering (Yudhiṣṭhira’s grief and sleeplessness), highlighting how war rhetoric often moralizes violence as ‘healing’—a tension between righteous duty and anger-driven vengeance.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shalya Parva war setting, Sañjaya reports a resolve to eliminate the Gandhāra ruler Śakuni with sharp arrows, presenting it as a way to end Yudhiṣṭhira’s prolonged distress and wakefulness caused by the burdens of the conflict.