Shloka 42

Śiva’s Battlefield Manifestation and Vyāsa’s Śatarudrīya Exposition (शिवप्रादुर्भावः शतरुद्रीयव्याख्यानम्)

Devanagari script

तद्‌ बल॑ भरतश्रेष्ठ वध्यमानं तदा निशि

Transliteration

tad balaṁ bharataśreṣṭha vadhyamānaṁ tadā niśi

Translation

तद् बलं भरतश्रेष्ठ वध्यमानं तदा निशि, क्षीयमाणं समरे दारुणं समपद्यत।

Word by Word

• तत्: that
• तत्: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

• बलम्: army; force
• बलम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: बल
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• भरतश्रेष्ठ: O best of the Bharatas
• Type: Noun (vocative epithet)
• Root: भरत-श्रेष्ठ
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• वध्यमानम्: being slain; being killed
• वध्यमानम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective/Participle
• Root: वध्यमान (√वध्)
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• तदा: then
• तदा: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तदा

• निशि: at night
• निशि: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: निशा
• Form: Feminine, Locative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by the address bharataśreṣṭha)
• bala (the army/force; unspecified here)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the moral strain of warfare when violence continues under cover of night: even in a kṣatriya conflict governed by norms, chaos and darkness can blur restraint, raising questions of dharma and accountability.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that a certain army/force is being slaughtered at night, setting a grim scene of nocturnal fighting and the resulting devastation.