Shloka 20

Devanagari script

हतो वैकर्तनो राजन सूतपुत्रो महारथ: । दिष्टया जयसि राजेन्द्र दिष्टया वर्धसि भारत

Transliteration

hato vaikartano rājan sūtaputro mahārathaḥ | diṣṭyā jayasi rājendra diṣṭyā vardhasi bhārata ||

Translation

Sañjaya disse: “Ó Rei, Vaikartana Karṇa —o grande guerreiro de carro, filho de um cocheiro— foi morto. Por boa fortuna estás prevalecendo, ó senhor dos reis; por boa fortuna crescem teu poder e tua prosperidade, ó Bhārata.”

Word by Word

• हतः: slain
• हतः: Karma
• Type: Verb
• Root: हन् (धातु) → हत (कृदन्त)
• Form: पुं, प्रथमा, एकवचन, क्त (past passive participle)

• वैकर्तनः: Vaikartana (Karna)
• वैकर्तनः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: वैकर्तन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुं, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• राजन्: O king
• Type: Noun
• Root: राजन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुं, सम्बोधन, एकवचन

• सूतपुत्रः: son of a charioteer
• सूतपुत्रः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: सूतपुत्र (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुं, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• महारथः: great chariot-warrior
• महारथः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: महारथ (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुं, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• दिष्ट्या: by good fortune / fortunately
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: दिष्टि (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: used adverbially as an interjection of good fortune (formally instrumental singular)

• जयसि: you win / are victorious
• Type: Verb
• Root: जि (धातु)
• Form: लट् (present), मध्यम, एकवचन, परस्मैपद

• राजेन्द्र: O lord of kings
• Type: Noun
• Root: राजेन्द्र (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुं, सम्बोधन, एकवचन

• दिष्ट्या: fortunately
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: दिष्टि (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: repeated interjection; formally instrumental singular

• वर्धसि: you prosper / increase
• Type: Verb
• Root: वृध् (धातु)
• Form: लट् (present), मध्यम, एकवचन, परस्मैपद

• भारत: O Bharata (descendant of Bharata)
• Type: Noun
• Root: भारत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुं, सम्बोधन, एकवचन

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra
• Karṇa (Vaikartana)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the Mahābhārata’s recurring tension between human agency and destiny: Sañjaya frames a decisive wartime event (Karṇa’s death) as ‘diṣṭyā’—a turn of fortune. Ethically, it also underscores how victory in war is often narrated as prosperity and success for a king, even when it is built upon immense loss, inviting reflection on the moral cost of triumph.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya informs King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Karṇa—Duryodhana’s chief support and a foremost warrior—has been killed. He then addresses Dhṛtarāṣṭra with conventional courtly reassurance, saying that by good fortune the king is ‘winning’ and ‘increasing,’ i.e., that the Kaurava cause appears to be advancing at this moment in the report.