Shloka 40

धृतराष्ट्र-संजय-संवादः — दुर्योधनस्य ह्रदप्रवेशः

Dhṛtarāṣṭra–Saṃjaya Dialogue: Duryodhana’s Entry into the Lake

Devanagari script

ततः शक्ति महाघोरां कालरात्रिमिवोद्यताम्‌

Transliteration

tataḥ śaktiṃ mahāghorāṃ kālarātrim ivodyatām

Translation

Sañjaya berkata: Kemudian dia mengangkat sebuah lembing yang amat menggerunkan, seolah-olah Kālarātri sendiri diangkat tinggi—gambaran kebinasaan yang bakal menimpa, menegaskan bahawa keganasan perang menjadikan senjata jelmaan maut dan bahaya moral.

Word by Word

• ततः: then; thereafter
• ततः: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ततः
• Form: Avyaya (ablatival adverb: 'from that/then')

• शक्तिम्: a spear/javelin (śakti-weapon)
• शक्तिम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: शक्ति
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• महाघोराम्: very terrible
• महाघोराम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: महाघोर
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• कालरात्रिम्: Kālarātri (the night of doom; personified dreadful night)
• कालरात्रिम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: कालरात्रि
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• इव: like; as if
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इव
• Form: Avyaya (particle of comparison)

• उद्यताम्: raised; uplifted; brandished
• उद्यताम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: उद्यत
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular (past passive participle used adjectivally: 'raised/held up')

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• śakti (spear/javelin)
• Kālarātri

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse uses the simile of Kālarātri to show how, in war, human action can resemble the impersonal force of death—warning that violence, once unleashed, carries a dreadful moral weight and an atmosphere of inevitable destruction.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes a combatant (implied from context) brandishing a spear, portraying it as so terrifying that it seems like Kālarātri herself has been raised, signaling an imminent lethal strike.