Shloka 52

Devanagari script

केशव! जिनके पति, पुत्र और संरक्षक मार दिये गये होंगे, वे धृतराष्ट्रके पुत्रों और पौत्रोंकी बहुएँ जब गान्धारीके साथ एकत्र होकर कुत्तों, गीधों और कुरर पक्षियोंसे भरे हुए समरांगणमें रोती हुई विचरेंगी, जनार्दन! वही उस यज्ञका अवभृथस्नान होगा ।। विद्यावृद्धा वयोवृद्धा: क्षत्रिया: क्षत्रियर्षभ । वृथा मृत्युं न कुर्वीरिस्त्वत्कृते मधुसूदन,क्षत्रियशिरोमणि मधुसूदन! तुम्हारे इस शान्ति-स्थापनके प्रयत्नसे कहीं ऐसा न हो कि विद्यावृद्ध और वयोवृद्ध क्षत्रियगण व्यर्थ मृत्युको प्राप्त हों (युद्धमें शस्त्रोंसे होनेवाली मृत्युसे वंचित रह जायाँ)

Transliteration

Keśava! yeṣāṁ patayaḥ putrāś ca pālakāś ca hata-bhaviṣyanti, tā dhṛtarāṣṭra-putra-pautrāṇāṁ snuṣāḥ gāndhāryā sahaikatrībhūya śva-gṛdhra-kurara-saṅkīrṇe samara-aṅgaṇe rudantyo vicarantyaḥ, Janārdana, tad eva tasya yajñasya avabhṛtha-snānaṁ bhaviṣyati. Vidyā-vṛddhā vayaḥ-vṛddhāḥ kṣatriyāḥ kṣatriyarṣabha; vṛthā mṛtyuṁ na kurvīriḥ tvat-kṛte, Madhusūdana.

Translation

केशव! येषां पतयः पुत्राश्च पालकाश्च निहता भविष्यन्ति, ता धृतराष्ट्रस्य पुत्रपौत्रवध्वो गान्धार्या सहैकत्र समागत्य श्वगृध्रकुरराकीर्णे समराङ्गणे रुदत्यो विचरिष्यन्ति; जनार्दन! स एव तस्य यज्ञस्यावभृथस्नानं भविष्यति । विद्यावृद्धा वयोवृद्धाः क्षत्रियाः क्षत्रियर्षभ । वृथा मृत्युं न कुर्वीरिस्त्वत्कृते मधुसूदन ॥

Word by Word

विद्या-वृद्धाःthose advanced in learning

वयः-वृद्धाःthose advanced in age

क्षत्रियाःKshatriyas, warriors

क्षत्रिय-ऋषभO bull among Kshatriyas

वृथाin vain, fruitlessly

मृत्युम्death

नnot

कुर्वीरिyou (all) should do / make

त्वत्-कृतेfor your sake / on account of you

मधुसूदनO slayer of Madhu (Krishna)

Speaker

कर्ण उवाच

Characters & Entities

Karna

Kṛṣṇa (Keśava, Janārdana, Madhusūdana)

Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Gāndhārī

Kauravas (sons and grandsons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra)

daughters-in-law (snuṣāḥ)

battlefield (samara-aṅgaṇa)

dogs

vultures

kurara birds

avabhṛtha bath

yajña (sacrifice)

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 warns that political ‘peace-making’ which ignores entrenched injustice can still culminate in catastrophic war; it frames the moral cost vividly—women’s grief amid carrion on the battlefield—and questions whether delaying or mishandling the crisis causes honorable warriors (especially learned and elderly kṣatriyas) to meet a pointless end rather than a meaningful, dharma-consistent outcome.

What is happening in the narrative?

Karna addresses Kṛṣṇa during the Udyoga Parva context of negotiations and impending war. He predicts the horrific aftermath if the Kaurava conflict proceeds—Gāndhārī and the Kaurava daughters-in-law roaming and weeping on a corpse-strewn field—and uses a sacrificial metaphor (avabhṛtha-snāna) to underscore the grim ‘conclusion’ of the war-sacrifice, while cautioning Kṛṣṇa that his peace efforts should not inadvertently lead to a futile loss of kṣatriya lives.