Shloka 54

Devanagari script

देवदानवगन्धर्वा नागयक्षा: पतत्त्रिण:

Transliteration

devadānavagandharvā nāgayakṣāḥ patattriṇaḥ

Translation

देवदानवगन्धर्वा नागयक्षाḥ पतत्त्रिणः।

Word by Word

• देव: gods
• देव: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: देव
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• दानव: demons (Danavas)
• दानव: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: दानव
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• गन्धर्वाः: Gandharvas (celestial musicians)
• गन्धर्वाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: गन्धर्व
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• नाग: Nagas (serpent-beings)
• नाग: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: नाग
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• यक्षाः: Yakshas
• यक्षाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: यक्ष
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• पतत्त्रिणः: birds (winged ones)
• पतत्त्रिणः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: पतत्त्रिन्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Devas
• Dānavas
• Gandharvas
• Nāgas
• Yakṣas
• Birds (Patattriṇaḥ)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights that actions in a dharma-crisis like Kurukṣetra are not private or merely political; they are witnessed by the whole moral cosmos. The Mahābhārata frames war as ethically consequential on a universal scale, where the fall of heroes and breaches of dharma echo beyond humanity.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya, reporting events to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, lists various classes of beings—devas, dānavas, gandharvas, nāgas, yakṣas, and birds—to convey that the battlefield event being described was extraordinary, drawing attention across realms and suggesting a portentous, world-shaking moment.