Shloka 32

Bhīṣma’s Stuti of Keśava and Counsel on Nara–Nārāyaṇa (भीष्म-स्तवः; नरनारायण-प्रसङ्गः)

Devanagari script

तस्मिन्‌ हते महेष्वासे राजपुत्रे महारथे । हाहाकारो महानासीत्‌ तव सैन्यस्य मारिष,आर्य! उस महाधनुर्धर महारथी राजकुमारके मारे जानेपर आपकी सेनामें महान्‌ हाहाकार मच गया

Transliteration

tasmin hate maheṣvāse rājaputre mahārathe | hāhākāro mahān āsīt tava sainyasya māriṣa ||

Translation

ആ മഹാധനുർധരനായ മഹാരഥി രാജപുത്രൻ വധിക്കപ്പെട്ടപ്പോൾ, ഹേ മാരിഷ, നിന്റെ സൈന്യത്തിൽ മഹാ ഹാഹാകാരം ഉയർന്നു।

Word by Word

तस्मिन्in that (one/that situation)

हतेwhen (he) was slain

महेष्वासेin the great archer

राजपुत्रेin the prince

महारथेin the great chariot-warrior

हाहाकारःa cry of lamentation; uproar

महान्great

आसीत्was

तवof you; your

सैन्यस्यof the army

मारिषO venerable one

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by address 'māriṣa' and 'tava')

rājaputra (unnamed prince)

mahāratha (the slain chariot-warrior)

Kaurava army (tava sainyam)

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 highlights the wider human cost of war: the death of a single eminent warrior triggers collective panic and lamentation, showing how violence destabilizes an entire community and tests the ethical burdens of kṣatriya warfare.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that a great archer—described as a prince and a mahāratha—has been killed, and that this death causes a loud, widespread outcry in the Kaurava forces.