Shloka 51

Devanagari script

रुदत्य: सह गान्धार्या श्वगृध्रकुरराकुले । स यज्ञेडस्मिन्नवभूथो भविष्यति जनार्दन

Transliteration

rudatyaḥ saha gāndhāryā śvagṛdhrakurarākule | sa yajñe 'sminn avabhūtho bhaviṣyati janārdana ||

Translation

காந்தாரி அழுதுகொண்டிருக்க, நாய்கள், கழுகுகள், குரரப் பறவைகள் நிறைந்த இந்தக் கலவரத்தில்—ஓ ஜனார்தன—இதுவே இந்த யாகத்தின் அவப்ருத ஸ்நானம், நிறைவு-சுத்திகரிப்பு நீராடல் ஆகும்.

Word by Word

रुदत्यःcrying, weeping

सहtogether with

गान्धार्याwith Gandhārī

श्वगृध्रकुरराकुलेin (a place) crowded with dogs, vultures, and ospreys

सःhe

यज्ञेin the sacrifice

अस्मिन्in this

अवभूथःthe concluding bath (avabhṛtha)

भविष्यतिwill be, will happen

जनार्दनO Janārdana

Speaker

कर्ण उवाच

Characters & Entities

Karna

Gandhari

Janardana (Krishna)

dogs

vultures

kurara (osprey/fish-eagle)

yajña (sacrifice)

avabhṛtha (concluding bath)

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 frames impending war through ritual metaphor: what is called a ‘sacrifice’ culminates not in sanctity but in a grim ‘avabhṛtha’ amid carrion-birds and mourning. It highlights the ethical cost of violence and the tragic inversion of dharmic ideals when conflict is pursued.

What is happening in the narrative?

Karna addresses Kṛṣṇa (Janārdana), foreseeing the battlefield’s aftermath: Gāndhārī’s lamentation and a scene swarming with dogs and scavenger birds. He declares that this horrific scene will serve as the ‘concluding bath’ of the figurative sacrifice—i.e., the war’s completion.