Shloka 256

Devanagari script

न्यवधीत्‌ तावकान्‌ सर्वान्‌ दण्डपाणिरिवान्तक: । उन्होंने दण्डपाणि यमराजके समान सुवर्णपत्रसे जटित विशाल गदा लेकर उसके द्वारा आपके समस्त सैनिकोंका संहार आरम्भ किया

Transliteration

nyavadhīt tāvakān sarvān daṇḍapāṇir ivāntakaḥ |

Translation

Санджая сказал: он начал истреблять все твои войска, словно сам Антака — Смерть, будто держа в руке жезл наказания. Схватив огромную палицу, украшенную золотыми пластинами, подобно Яме — Дандапани, владыке кары, он открыл ею бойню среди всех твоих ратников.

Word by Word

न्यवधीत्slew, killed

तावकान्your (men), your side's (warriors)

सर्वान्all

दण्डपाणिःthe staff-in-hand one (Yama)

इवlike, as

अन्तकःDeath (Yama)

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied addressee by 'tāvakān')

Antaka (Death/Yama)

Daṇḍa (rod/staff of punishment)

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 frames battlefield killing as resembling the work of Antaka (Death), highlighting the moral gravity and inevitability of destruction in war; it suggests that violence, once unleashed, functions like impersonal punishment and fate rather than mere personal heroism.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that a warrior (contextually, the opposing side’s champion) begins the slaughter of Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s forces, compared to Death himself wielding the punitive staff.