Shloka 403

शकुनिवधः — Sahadeva’s Slaying of Śakuni

with Ulūka’s fall

Devanagari script

यथा सिंहो वने राजन्‌ मृगं परिबुभुक्षित: । राजन! जैसे वनमें भूखा सिंह किसी मृगको दबोच लेता है, उसी प्रकार अर्जुनने समस्त योद्धाओंके देखते-देखते सत्येषुके भी प्राण हर लिये

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca | yathā siṁho vane rājan mṛgaṁ paribubhukṣitaḥ | tathā arjunaḥ samastayoddhṛṇāṁ paśyatāṁ paśyatāṁ satyeṣuḥ api prāṇān jahāra ||

Translation

Sañjaya said: “O King, just as a lion in the forest, driven by hunger, seizes a deer, so did Arjuna—before the very eyes of all the warriors—take away the life of Satyeṣu as well.” The simile underscores the ruthless inevitability of battlefield death, where prowess and necessity override personal regard, and the king is made to confront the stark moral cost of war.

Word by Word

यथाjust as

सिंहःlion

वनेin the forest

राजन्O king

मृगम्a deer/animal (prey)

परिबुभुक्षितःvery hungry, famished

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by 'rājan')

Arjuna

Satyeṣu

forest (vana)

lion (siṁha)

deer (mṛga)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Geographic Context

Sandhi Notes