Shloka 2

अर्जुन-कर्ण-सङ्ग्रामः

Arjuna–Karna Engagement in the Cattle-Raid Aftermath

Devanagari script

माया हि बहव: सन्ति शास्त्रमाश्रित्य चिन्तिता:। तेषां युद्ध तु पापिष्ठं वेदयन्ति पुराविद:,मैंने शास्त्रका आश्रय लेकर बहुत-सी मायाओंका चिन्तन किया है; किंतु उन सबमें युद्ध ही सर्वाधिक पापपूर्ण कर्म है--ऐसा प्राचीन विद्वान बताते हैं

Transliteration

māyā hi bahavaḥ santi śāstram āśritya cintitāḥ | teṣāṃ yuddhaṃ tu pāpiṣṭhaṃ vedayanti purāvidaḥ ||

Translation

കൃപൻ പറഞ്ഞു—ശാസ്ത്രങ്ങളെ ആശ്രയിച്ച് പല തന്ത്രങ്ങളും ആലോചിക്കാം; എന്നാൽ അവയൊക്കെയിലും യുദ്ധം തന്നെയാണ് ഏറ്റവും പാപകരമായ കർമ്മമെന്ന് പുരാതനപരമ്പരയിൽ പണ്ഡിതരായ ഋഷിമാർ പ്രഖ്യാപിക്കുന്നു।

Word by Word

• {'māyā': 'contrivance, stratagem, artifice

• here: tactical devices or ruses', 'hi': 'indeed, surely', 'bahavaḥ': 'many', 'santi': 'are, exist', 'śāstram': 'authoritative treatise

• sacred/legal instruction', 'āśritya': 'having resorted to, relying upon', 'cintitāḥ': 'considered, devised, reflected upon', 'teṣām': 'of them, among them', 'yuddham': 'war, battle, armed conflict', 'tu': 'but, however', 'pāpiṣṭham': 'most sinful, gravest in wrongdoing', 'vedayanti': 'they make known, they declare, they teach', 'purāvidaḥ': 'knowers of antiquity

Speaker

कृप उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Kṛpa
• śāstra
• purāvidaḥ (ancient sages)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even if many strategies can be justified or derived from śāstric reasoning, war remains ethically perilous; traditional authorities regard it as the gravest sinful act among such measures.

What is happening in the narrative?

Kṛpa is offering counsel, reflecting on various śāstra-based stratagems, and emphasizing a moral warning: despite tactical possibilities, engaging in war is condemned as the most blameworthy course by ancient tradition.