Mahabharata 4.49.2 — Virata Parva, Adhyaya 49, 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:

Transliteration

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

Translation

Kripa berkata: “Sesungguhnya, banyak helah dan siasat dapat dirancang dengan bersandar pada ajaran śāstra. Namun, di antara semuanya, perbuatan berperang itulah yang paling berdosa—demikianlah dinyatakan oleh para resi yang arif dalam tradisi purba.”

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.