Shloka 39

Devanagari script

गिरय: सागराश्रैव नद्यक्ष सजलास्तथा

Transliteration

girayaḥ sāgarāś caiva nadyaś ca sajalās tathā

Translation

गिरयः सागराश्चैव नद्यश्च सजलास्तथा ॥

Word by Word

• गिरयः: mountains
• गिरयः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: गिरि
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• सागराः: oceans/seas
• सागराः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: सागर
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• इव: like/as
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इव

• नद्यः: rivers
• नद्यः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: नदी
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• सजलाः: water-filled (having water)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: स-जल
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• तथा: so/likewise
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तथा

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• mountains
• oceans
• rivers

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse uses vast natural features to convey that the effects of destructive conflict are not limited to human combatants; adharma-driven violence destabilizes the whole order of the world, making war a moral and cosmic crisis rather than a mere contest of arms.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya, narrating the Kurukṣetra events to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, describes the battle’s intensity through hyperbolic nature imagery—mountains, oceans, and water-filled rivers are portrayed as being shaken or overwhelmed—signaling an extraordinary, world-shaking moment in the war.