Mahabharata 11.2.5 — Stree Parva, Adhyaya 2, Shloka 5

Strī Parva, Adhyāya 2 — Vidura’s Consolation on Kāla, Karma, and the Limits of Lamentation (विदुरोपदेशः)

Devanagari script

अयुध्यमानो ग्रियते युध्यमानश्न जीवति । काल प्राप्प महाराज न कश्चिदतिवर्तते

Transliteration

ayudhyamāno mriyate yudhyamānaś ca jīvati | kālaṃ prāpya mahārāja na kaścid ativartate ||

Translation

“ਹੇ ਮਹਾਰਾਜ! ਜੋ ਯੁੱਧ ਨਹੀਂ ਕਰਦਾ ਉਹ ਵੀ ਮਰ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ, ਅਤੇ ਜੋ ਯੁੱਧ ਕਰਦਾ ਹੈ ਉਹ ਵੀ ਬਚ ਸਕਦਾ ਹੈ। ਜਦੋਂ ਕਾਲ ਆ ਪਹੁੰਚੇ, ਕੋਈ ਵੀ ਉਸ ਤੋਂ ਅੱਗੇ ਨਹੀਂ ਲੰਘ ਸਕਦਾ।”

Word by Word

• अयुध्यमानः: not fighting
• अयुध्यमानः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: युध्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular, शानच् (लट्), Ātmanepada (middle sense)

• म्रियते: dies
• Type: Verb
• Root: मृ
• Form: Present (लट्), 3rd, Singular, Ātmanepada

• युध्यमानः: fighting
• युध्यमानः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: युध्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular, शानच् (लट्), Ātmanepada (middle sense)

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• जीवति: lives / survives
• Type: Verb
• Root: जीव्
• Form: Present (लट्), 3rd, Singular, Parasmaipada

• कालम्: Time (Death)
• कालम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: काल
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• प्राप्य: having reached / upon attaining
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: प्र-आप्
• Form: ल्यप् (absolutive/gerund), Parasmaipada/Ātmanepada-neutral (gerund)

• महाराज: O great king
• Type: Noun
• Root: महाराज
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• न: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न

• कश्चित्: anyone
• कश्चित्: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: किम्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• अतिवर्तते: oversteps / transgresses
• Type: Verb
• Root: अति-वृत्
• Form: Present (लट्), 3rd, Singular, Ātmanepada

Speaker

विदुर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vidura
• Mahārāja (the king addressed)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Death is not avoided merely by refusing to fight; survival is not guaranteed even by fighting. Ultimately, when one’s destined time (kāla) arrives, no one can escape it—so one should act with steadiness and dharmic discernment rather than panic.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Strī Parva’s aftermath of the great war, Vidura counsels the king, using a stark maxim about battle and fate to frame the catastrophe: human choices matter, yet they operate within the inescapable boundary of kāla.