Shloka 243

Karna Reproves Shalya; Brahmin Reports on Bāhlīkas; Shalya’s Universalizing Rebuttal (कर्ण–शल्य संवादः)

Devanagari script

सोढा घोराणि बहुश: शल्यभूतानि संजय । अहो! द्यूतक्रीडाका यह घोर परिणाम इस समय प्रकट हुआ है। संजय! आश्चर्य है कि मैंने दुर्योधनके कारण बहुत-से तीव्र एवं भयंकर दुःख, जो काँटोंके समान कसक रहे हैं, सहन किये हैं

Transliteration

soḍhā ghorāṇi bahuśaḥ śalyabhūtāni sañjaya | aho dyūtakrīḍākāyaḥ ghoraḥ pariṇāmaḥ asmin samaye prakaṭaḥ | sañjaya āścaryam etat yat mayā duryodhanakāraṇāt bahūni tīvra-bhayānakāni duḥkhāni kaṇṭakavat kaṣamāṇāni soḍhāni |

Translation

संजय म्हणाला—राजन्, मी वारंवार घोर दुःख सोसले आहे; ते शल्यासारखे अंतरी रुतून बसले आहे. अहो, द्यूतक्रीडेचा हा भयंकर परिणाम आज याच क्षणी प्रकट झाला. संजय, आश्चर्य—दुर्योधनामुळे काट्यासारखे टोचणारे असंख्य तीव्र व भीषण शोक मी सहन केले आहेत.

Word by Word

सोढाhaving endured / endured

घोराणिterrible (things)

बहुशःmany times / repeatedly

शल्यभूतानिbecome like thorns / thorn-like

संजयO Sañjaya

अहोalas! / ah!

द्यूतक्रीडाकाःgambling-players / those engaged in dice-play

यःwhich / who

घोरःterrible

परिणामःresult / consequence

अस्मिन्in this

समयेat the time

प्रकटःmanifest / evident

अभवत्became / occurred

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Duryodhana

Dyūta (the dice-game)

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?

Actions driven by greed and adharma—here symbolized by the dice-game—ripen into unavoidable suffering. The verse underscores moral causality: a single unethical choice can expand into repeated, thorn-like pains for many.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the midst of the war’s grim unfolding, Sañjaya reflects on how the present catastrophe is the visible fruition of the earlier gambling episode, and he attributes the chain of agonies to Duryodhana’s role in that wrongdoing.