Shloka 216

कर्णवधोत्तरं शल्य-दुर्योधनसंवादः

Aftermath of Karṇa’s Fall: Śalya’s Address to Duryodhana

Devanagari script

अथापि जीवेत्‌ समरे घटोत्कच- स्तथापि नाहं समरे पराड्मुख: । 'पार्थ! यदि महारथियोंमें श्रेष्ठ और उत्तम रथी तुम्हारा पुत्र अभिमन्यु जीवित होता तो वह शत्रुओंका वध अवश्य करता। फिर तो समरभूमिमें मुझे ऐसा अपमान नहीं उठाना पड़ता। यदि समरांगणमें घटोत्कच भी जीवित होता तो भी मुझे वहाँसे मुँह फेरकर भागना नहीं पड़ता

Transliteration

athāpi jīvet samare ghaṭotkacaḥ tathāpi nāhaṃ samare parāṅmukhaḥ | pārtha! yadi mahārathīnāṃ śreṣṭha uttama-rathī tava putro ’bhimanyuḥ jīvito bhavet, sa śatrūṇāṃ vadham avaśyaṃ kuryāt | tataḥ samara-bhūmau mama evam apamānaṃ na sahyaṃ syāt | yadi samara-aṅgaṇe ghaṭotkaco ’pi jīvito bhavet, tathāpi māṃ tatra-sthān mūhaṃ phera-kṛtvā palāyituṃ na prāpnuyāt ||

Translation

सञ्जय उवाच—अथापि समरे घटोत्कचो जीवेत्, तथापि नाहं समरे पराङ्मुखो भवेत्। पार्थ, यदि तव पुत्रोऽभिमन्युः महारथिश्रेष्ठः श्रेष्ठरथी च जीवेत्, स शत्रून् अवश्यं हन्यात्; तदा मे रणभूमौ तादृशोऽपमानो न स्यात्। यदि च समराङ्गणे घटोत्कचोऽपि जीवेत्, नाहं ततो मुखं परिवर्त्य पलायितुं बाध्यः स्याम्।

Word by Word

• {'athāpi': 'even so

• nevertheless', 'jīvet': 'might live

• were alive (optative of √jīv)', 'samare': 'in battle (locative of samara)', 'ghaṭotkacaḥ': 'Ghaṭotkaca (Bhīma’s son, a rākṣasa warrior)', 'tathāpi': 'even then

• still', 'nāham': 'not I', 'parāṅmukhaḥ': 'turned away

• retreating (lit. ‘with face turned away’)', 'pārtha': 'O son of Pṛthā

• Arjuna (vocative)', 'mahārathī': 'great chariot-warrior

• elite combatant', 'śreṣṭha': 'best

• foremost', 'uttama-rathī': 'excellent charioteer/warrior on a chariot

• top-class fighter', 'putraḥ': 'son', 'abhimanyuḥ': 'Abhimanyu (son of Arjuna)', 'jīvitaḥ': 'alive', 'śatrūṇām': 'of enemies', 'vadha': 'slaying

• killing', 'avaśyam': 'certainly

• without fail', 'samara-bhūmi': 'battlefield', 'apamāna': 'dishonor

• humiliation', 'samara-aṅgaṇa': 'battle-arena

• field of combat', 'mukhaṃ phera-kṛtvā': 'having turned the face (idiom for retreating)', 'palāyitum': 'to flee

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sanjaya
• Ghaṭotkaca
• Pārtha (Arjuna)
• Abhimanyu
• enemies (śatravaḥ)
• battlefield (samara-bhūmi)
• battle-arena (samara-aṅgaṇa)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames retreat as a source of moral and social disgrace for a warrior, implying that steadfastness in battle is integral to kṣatriya-dharma; it also highlights how the presence of exemplary heroes (Abhimanyu, Ghaṭotkaca) is imagined to prevent defeat and the consequent humiliation.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sanjaya addresses Arjuna (Pārtha), reflecting on the war’s reversals: he says that if Abhimanyu and/or Ghaṭotkaca were still alive, they would have destroyed the enemies and he would not have had to suffer the shame of being compelled to flee the battlefield.