Shloka 40

Devanagari script

शयानं समुपासन्ति यं पुरा परमस्त्रिय:

Transliteration

śayānaṃ samupāsanti yaṃ purā paramastriyaḥ

Translation

शयानं समुपासन्ति यं पुरा परमस्त्रियः।

Word by Word

• शयानम्: lying down
• शयानम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: शी (धातु) → शय (कृदन्त-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• समुपासन्ति: they attend upon / worship
• समुपासन्ति: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: उप-आस् (धातु) with सम्- (समुपास्)
• Form: Present (Lat), Third, Plural

• यम्: whom
• यम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: यद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• पुरा: formerly / earlier
• पुरा: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: पुरा

• परमस्त्रियः: the foremost women
• परमस्त्रियः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: परम-स्त्री (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• paramastriyaḥ (noble women)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The line underscores the ethical poignancy of war by contrasting past reverence and dignity with the present suffering: worldly honor is unstable, and violence can overturn the very social and moral order that once upheld greatness.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya is describing a figure whose former eminence was such that noble women would respectfully attend him even in repose; the statement functions as a setup for a stark contrast with the current battlefield situation in Drona Parva.