Shloka 20

Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 155 — Ghaṭotkaca-nidhana-śoka and Karṇa-śakti-vyaya

Kṛṣṇa’s strategic reassurance

Devanagari script

क्षीणतोयानिलाकंभ्यां हतत्विडिव पद्मिनी

Transliteration

kṣīṇatoyānilākāmbhyāṃ hatatviḍ iva padminī

Translation

ਸੰਜਯ ਬੋਲਿਆ—ਉਹ ਦ੍ਰਿਸ਼ ਐਸਾ ਸੀ ਜਿਵੇਂ ਪਾਣੀ ਘਟ ਗਿਆ ਹੋਵੇ ਅਤੇ ਹਵਾ ਤੇ ਤਾਪ ਨਾਲ ਕਮਲਾਂ ਦੀ ਚਮਕ ਮਿਟ ਗਈ ਹੋਵੇ—ਇੱਕ ਪਦਮਿਨੀ ਸਰੋਵਰ।

Word by Word

• क्षीणतोया: having diminished water / with scant water
• क्षीणतोया: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: क्षीण-तोय (क्षीण + तोय)
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• अनिलाकंभ्याम्: by wind and the sun (heat)
• अनिलाकंभ्याम्: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: अनिल + अकंभ्य (अनिल + अकंभ्य)
• Form: Neuter, Instrumental, Dual

• हतत्विट्: with luster destroyed / faded
• हतत्विट्: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: हत-त्विष् (हन् + त्विष्)
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• इव: like, as if
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इव

• पद्मिनी: a lotus-pond / lotus-lake
• पद्मिनी: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: पद्मिनी
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• lotus-pond (padminī)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse uses a natural simile to show how life, beauty, and strength depend on sustaining conditions; when those supports are exhausted—like water for a lotus-pond—splendor fades. Ethically, it underscores war’s power to drain what is nourishing and life-giving, leaving only depletion.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra using a vivid comparison: the situation (implicitly the battlefield and its warriors) looks like a lotus-pond dried by wind and heat, its former brilliance gone—conveying exhaustion and ruin after intense fighting.