Shloka 13

Devanagari script

यथाफला: षण्ढतिला यथा चर्ममया मृगा: । तथैव पाण्डवा: सर्वे यथा काकयवा अपि,'जैसे थोथे तिल बोनेपर फल नहीं देते हैं, जैसे केवल चर्ममय मृग व्यर्थ हैं तथा जैसे काकयव (तंदुलरहित तृणधान्य) निष्प्रयोजन होते हैं, उसी प्रकार समस्त पाण्डवोंका जीवन निरर्थक हो गया है

Transliteration

vaiśampāyana uvāca |

yathāphalāḥ ṣaṇḍhatilā yathā carmamayā mṛgāḥ |

tathaiva pāṇḍavāḥ sarve yathā kākayavā api ||

Translation

जसे वांझ तिळांना फळ येत नाही, जसे केवळ चर्माने बनवलेले ‘मृग’ व्यर्थ असतात, आणि जसे काकयव—दाणेविना भूशासारखे—निष्प्रयोजन असते; तसेच या क्षणी सर्व पांडवांचे जीवनही निष्फळ व निरर्थक ठरले आहे.

Word by Word

यथाjust as

अफलाःfruitless, without result

षण्ढ-तिलाःbarren sesame (sesame that yields no grain)

यथाjust as

चर्म-मयाःmade of hide/skin (mere leather)

मृगाःdeer (animals)

तथाso, in the same way

एवindeed, just

पाण्डवाःthe Pandavas

सर्वेall

यथाjust as

काक-यवाःkākayava (a worthless grain/grass-seed, husk without rice)

अपिalso, even

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Pāṇḍavas

barren sesame (ṣaṇḍhatilāḥ)

hide-made deer (carmamayā mṛgāḥ)

kākayava (worthless husk/grain)

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 uses sharp similes to express how, when dharma and honor are shattered, even noble life and royal power can feel ‘fruitless’—like sterile seed or empty husk. It highlights the ethical weight of disgrace and the sense of purposelessness that follows moral and social collapse.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Sabha Parva context of the dice-hall catastrophe, the narrator conveys the depth of the Pāṇḍavas’ downfall. Through images of sterility and imitation, he portrays their condition as emptied of value and efficacy at that moment.