Shloka 433

Devanagari script

मात्सर्याहंकृती चैव क्रमादेव उदाह्वता: । इन अस्त्रोंसे विद्ध होनेपर सभी मनुष्य मृत्युको प्राप्त होते हैं। काम, क्रोध, लोभ, मोह, मद, मान, मात्सर्य और अहंकार--ये क्रमश: आठ दोष बताये गये हैं, जिनके प्रतीकस्वरूप उपयुक्त आठ अस्त्र हैं

Transliteration

mātsaryāhaṅkṛtī caiva kramād eva udāhṛtāḥ | etair astraiḥ viddhaḥ sarvo manuṣyo mṛtyuṃ prāpnoti | kāmaḥ krodho lobho moho madaḥ mānaḥ mātsaryaṃ ca ahaṅkāraś ca—ete kramāśaḥ aṣṭau doṣāḥ proktāḥ, yeṣāṃ pratikasvarūpāṇi uktāni aṣṭau astrāṇi |

Translation

मात्सर्याहंकृती चैव क्रमादेव उदाहृताः । एभिरस्त्रैरिव विद्धः सर्वः पुरुषो मृत्युं प्राप्नोति । कामः क्रोधो लोभो मोहः मदो मानो मात्सर्यमहंकारश्च—एते क्रमशोऽष्ट दोषाः; तेषां प्रतीकरूपाण्यष्टास्त्राणि प्रोक्तानि ॥

Word by Word

मात्सर्याjealousy/envy

अहंकृतीegoism/‘I’-making (self-conceit)

चand

एवindeed/just

क्रमात्in order; successively (lit. from sequence)

एवindeed/just

उदाह्वताःwere called/declared (in order)

Speaker

राम उवाच

Characters & Entities

Rama

eight astras (symbolic weapons)

kāma

krodha

lobha

moha

mada

māna

mātsarya

ahaṅkāra

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The passage teaches that the gravest dangers are inner: eight vices—desire, anger, greed, delusion, intoxication, pride, envy, and ego—function like weapons that ‘kill’ a person by destroying discernment, relationships, and dharmic conduct.

What is happening in the narrative?

Rama is delivering a moral instruction, using the imagery of weapons (astras) to explain how specific psychological faults strike human beings and lead them toward ruin, as part of a broader didactic conversation in the Udyoga Parva.