Shloka 173

Devanagari script

नाभिजानन्ति चान्योन्यं कश्मलाभिहतौजस: । दूसरे बहुत-से योद्धा “हा तात! हा पुत्र!” की रट लगाते हुए भयभीत होकर भाग रहे थे। मोहसे बल और उत्साह नष्ट हो जानेके कारण वे ऐसे अचेत हो रहे थे कि एक-दूसरेको पहचान भी नहीं पाते थे

Transliteration

nābhijānanti cānyonyaṁ kaśmalābhihataujasaḥ |

Translation

युधिष्ठिर उवाच—कश्मलाभिहतौजसः परे, ‘हा तात! हा पुत्र!’ इति विलपन्तो भीताः पलायन्ते स्म। मोहात् क्षीणबलोत्साहाः सञ्ज्ञां जहुः, न चान्योन्यं नाभिजानन्ति॥

Word by Word

नnot

अभिजानन्तिrecognize/know

चand

अन्योन्यम्each other (mutually)

कश्मल-अभिहत-ओजसःwhose vigor is struck down by delusion

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Yudhiṣṭhira

warriors (unspecified)

father

son

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 highlights how kaśmala (bewilderment and moral confusion) can destroy ojas (inner vigor and clarity), reducing people to panic where even basic recognition and relational awareness collapse—an ethical warning about the dehumanizing force of delusion in war.

What is happening in the narrative?

Yudhiṣṭhira describes the battlefield’s chaos: many combatants, terrified and grief-stricken, flee while crying out for their fathers and sons, and in their stunned state they cannot even recognize one another.