Shloka 19

Kṛṣṇasya Karṇam Prati Sāntvavacana

Kṛṣṇa’s Conciliatory Address to Karṇa

Devanagari script

मन्त्री जनार्दनो यस्य भ्राता यस्य धनंजय: । सर्वशस्त्रभृतां श्रेष्ठ; कथं जेष्पसि पाण्डवम्‌

Transliteration

mantrī janārdano yasya bhrātā yasya dhanañjayaḥ | sarvaśastrabhṛtāṃ śreṣṭhaḥ kathaṃ jeṣyasi pāṇḍavam ||

Translation

ဘီရှ္မက ဆိုသည်—«ပाण्डု၏သား ယုဓိဋ္ဌိရကို သင် ဘယ်လို အနိုင်ယူနိုင်မည်နည်း။ သူ၏ အကြံပေးသည် ဘဂဝန် ဇနာရ္ဒန (ကృష్ణ) ဖြစ်ပြီး၊ သူ၏ ညီအစ်ကိုမှာ လက်နက်ကိုင်သူတို့အနက် အထွဋ်အမြတ် ဒနဉ္ဇယ (အာర్జုန) ဖြစ်သည်»။

Word by Word

• मन्त्री: minister, counsellor
• मन्त्री: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: मन्त्रिन्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• जनार्दनः: Janārdana (Kṛṣṇa)
• जनार्दनः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: जनार्दन
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• यस्य: whose
• यस्य: Adhikarana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: यद्
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Genitive, Singular

• भ्राता: brother
• भ्राता: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: भ्रातृ
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• यस्य: whose
• यस्य: Adhikarana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: यद्
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Genitive, Singular

• धनंजयः: Dhanañjaya (Arjuna)
• धनंजयः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: धनंजय
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• सर्वशस्त्रभृताम्: of all weapon-bearers
• सर्वशस्त्रभृताम्: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: सर्व-शस्त्र-भृत्
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Plural

• श्रेष्ठः: the best, foremost
• श्रेष्ठः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: श्रेष्ठ
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• कथम्: how?
• कथम्: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: कथम्

• जेष्यसि: you will conquer
• जेष्यसि: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: जि
• Form: Simple Future (Luṭ), Second, Singular, Parasmaipada

• पाण्डवम्: the Pāṇḍava (son of Pāṇḍu)
• पाण्डवम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: पाण्डव
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Janārdana (Kṛṣṇa)
• Dhanañjaya (Arjuna)
• Pāṇḍava (Yudhiṣṭhira)
• Pāṇḍu

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhīṣma emphasizes that power is not only numerical or political: righteous counsel (Kṛṣṇa as minister) and unsurpassed capability (Arjuna as the foremost warrior) make the Pāṇḍava cause extraordinarily difficult to overcome. The verse underscores ethical-strategic discernment—recognizing when a war is unjust or unwinnable against dharma-supported strength.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Udyoga Parva’s pre-war deliberations, Bhīṣma addresses the Kaurava side, cautioning them about the futility of trying to defeat Yudhiṣṭhira’s party. He points to Kṛṣṇa’s guidance and Arjuna’s martial supremacy as decisive advantages for the Pāṇḍavas.