Shloka 17

Devanagari script

न तस्य मातापितरी नानुग्राह्मो हि कश्नन । कर्मसाक्षी प्रजानां यस्तेन कालेन संहृता:,कालके माता-पिता नहीं हैं। उसका किसीपर भी अनुग्रह नहीं होता। जो प्रजावर्गके कर्मका साक्षी है, उसी कालने तुम्हारे शत्रुओंका संहार किया है

Transliteration

na tasya mātāpitarī nānugrāhyo hi kaścana | karmasākṣī prajānāṃ yas tena kālena saṃhṛtāḥ ||

Translation

व्यास म्हणाले— काळाला ना माता आहे ना पिता; आणि तो कोणावरही विशेष अनुग्रह करत नाही. प्रजांच्या कर्मांचा साक्षी तोच काळ आहे; नियत वेळ येताच त्यानेच तुमच्या शत्रूंचा संहार केला.

Word by Word

नnot

तस्यof him/its

माताmother

पितरीtwo fathers/parents (dual form of 'father')

नnor/not

अनुग्राह्यःto be favored; fit for grace

हिindeed/for

कश्चनanyone (at all)

कर्मof action/deed

साक्षीwitness

प्रजानाम्of creatures/subjects

यःwho

तेनby him/thereby

कालेनby Time

संहृताःdestroyed/withdrawn

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vyāsa

Kāla (Time)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Time (Kāla) is impartial and not subject to personal bias or favoritism; it functions as the instrument through which the results of beings’ actions ripen. Therefore, one should not reduce events—especially destruction in war—to mere personal agency alone, but see them within the larger moral causality of karma and the inevitability of time.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vyāsa addresses the aftermath of conflict and reframes the fall of enemies: their destruction is attributed to Kāla, the cosmic force that arrives when the destined moment matures, and which ‘witnesses’ the karmic record of beings. This counsel aims to temper grief, pride, and blame by pointing to a broader, ethically grounded causation.