Shloka 23

Chapter 26: Śoka-pratiṣedha, Hata-saṅkhyā, Gati-vibhāga, Pretakārya-ājñā

Restraint of Grief, Count of the Slain, Destinies, and Funerary Directives

Devanagari script

यान्‌ सुपर्णाश्च गृध्राश्न विकर्षन्ति यतस्तत: । तेषां तु कर्मणा लोका भविष्यन्ति युधिष्ठिर,युधिष्ठि!![ जिनकी लाशोंको गरुड़ और गीध इधर-उधर घसीट रहे हैं, उन्हें तो श्राद्धकर्मसे ही शुभलोक प्राप्त होंगे?

Transliteration

yān suparṇāś ca gṛdhrāś ca vikarṣanti yatas tataḥ | teṣāṃ tu karmaṇā lokā bhaviṣyanti yudhiṣṭhira ||

Translation

യുധിഷ്ഠിരൻ പറഞ്ഞു—സുപർണന്മാരും കഴുകന്മാരും ഇങ്ങോട്ടും അങ്ങോട്ടും വലിച്ചിഴയ്ക്കുന്ന ശവങ്ങൾ—അവർക്കു ശ്രാദ്ധകർമ്മം ചെയ്താൽ മാത്രമേ ശുഭലോകം ലഭിക്കുകയുള്ളോ?

Word by Word

यान्whom

सुपर्णाःGarudas / great birds

चand

गृध्राःvultures

विकर्षन्तिdrag / pull away

यतःfrom where

ततःto there / thither

तेषाम्of them

तुbut / indeed

कर्मणाby the rite/action (i.e., by śrāddha/obsequial act)

लोकाःworlds / realms

भविष्यन्तिwill be / will come to be

युधिष्ठिरO Yudhiṣṭhira

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Yudhiṣṭhira

suparṇa (great bird/Garuḍa-like bird)

gṛdhra (vulture)

corpses of the fallen (battle-dead)

śrāddha (funerary rite, implied by context)

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 raises a dharmic concern: when the dead are mutilated or left uncremated due to war, do they still gain auspicious posthumous states through the living’s performance of śrāddha and related rites? It foregrounds the ethical responsibility of survivors to honor the dead even amid devastation.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the aftermath of the Kurukṣetra slaughter described in Strī Parva, Yudhiṣṭhira, overwhelmed by the sight of bodies being dragged and consumed by birds, questions the efficacy and necessity of funerary rites for those whose remains are scattered and desecrated.