Shloka 23

Devanagari script

ईदृशो लोकथधर्मो<यं धात्रा निर्दिष्ट उच्यते । विनाश: सर्वभूतानां कालपर्यायमागत:,“मित्रो! इस मर्त्यलोकका ऐसा ही धर्म (नियम) है। विधाताने ही इसका निर्देश किया है, ऐसा कहा जाता है; इसलिये कालक्रमसे एक-न-एक दिन सम्पूर्ण प्राणियोंके विनाशकी घड़ी आ ही जाती है

Transliteration

īdṛśo lokadharmo 'yaṃ dhātrā nirdiṣṭa ucyate | vināśaḥ sarvabhūtānāṃ kālaparyāyam āgataḥ ||

Translation

ਸੰਜਯ ਬੋਲਿਆ— ਮਿੱਤਰੋ! ਮਰਤ ਲੋਕ ਦਾ ਇਹੋ ਜਿਹਾ ਧਰਮ (ਨਿਯਮ) ਹੈ; ਕਿਹਾ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਵਿਧਾਤਾ ਨੇ ਹੀ ਇਹ ਨਿਰਧਾਰਤ ਕੀਤਾ ਹੈ। ਇਸ ਲਈ ਕਾਲ ਦੇ ਪਰਿਵਰਤਨ ਨਾਲ ਇਕ ਦਿਨ ਸਭ ਜੀਵਾਂ ਉੱਤੇ ਵਿਨਾਸ਼ ਦੀ ਘੜੀ ਅਟੱਲ ਤੌਰ ਤੇ ਆ ਪਹੁੰਚਦੀ ਹੈ।

Word by Word

ईदृशःsuch, of this kind

लोकधर्मःthe law/nature of the world

अयम्this

धात्राby the Creator/Ordainer

निर्दिष्टःappointed, prescribed

उच्यतेis said

विनाशःdestruction

सर्वभूतानाम्of all beings

कालपर्यायम्the course/turn of time

आगतःhaving come, arrived

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Dhātṛ (the Creator/Ordainer)

Kāla (Time/Death)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches the inevitability of mortality: the world’s order (lokadharma) is such that, as ordained by the Creator, time (kāla) eventually brings destruction to all beings. It frames death not as an anomaly but as a universal rule.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya, narrating events to Dhṛtarāṣṭra in the Shalya Parva war setting, pauses to state a reflective principle: amid the devastation of battle, the coming of death is presented as the natural, time-driven course decreed by the cosmic order.