Shloka 34

शल्यस्य सेनापत्याभ्युपगमः | Śalya’s Acceptance of Command

Devanagari script

कृपणं विलपन्नार्तो जरयाभिपरिप्लुत: । ग्रियते रुदतां मध्ये ज्ञातीनां न स पूरुष:,“जिसका शरीर बुढ़ापेसे जर्जर हो गया हो, जो रोगसे पीड़ित हो, परिवारके लोग जिसके आस-पास बैठकर रो रहे हों और उन रोते हुए स्वजनोंके बीचमें जो करुण विलाप करते-करते अपने प्राणोंका परित्याग करता है, वह पुरुष कहलानेयोग्य नहीं है

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca | kṛpaṇaṃ vilapann ārto jarayābhipariplutaḥ | grīyate rudatāṃ madhye jñātīnāṃ na sa pūruṣaḥ ||

Translation

முதுமையால் சிதைந்த உடலுடன், துயரால் வாடி இரங்கலாக அழுது, அழுதுகொண்டிருக்கும் உறவினரின் நடுவே உயிர் துறப்பவன்—‘ஆண்’ என அழைக்கத் தகுதியற்றவன்.

Word by Word

कृपणम्wretched, pitiable

विलपन्lamenting

आर्तःdistressed, afflicted

जरयाby old age

अभिपरिप्लुतःoverwhelmed, flooded over

गृह्यतेis seized / is taken

रुदताम्of those who are weeping

मध्येin the midst

ज्ञातीनाम्of kinsmen/relatives

नnot

सःhe

पुरुषःman, person

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

jñāti (kinsmen/relatives)

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 contrasts dignified endurance with helpless, self-pitying collapse: being overcome by age and suffering is natural, but surrendering to despair and dying in pitiable lamentation is portrayed as lacking the steadiness and courage expected of a ‘pūruṣa’ (a person of true manly worth).

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya offers a reflective, moralizing observation about a pitiable kind of death—one that occurs amid grieving relatives—using it to comment on character and the ideal of facing decline and death with firmness rather than plaintive helplessness.