Shloka 32

Bhagadattā’s Deployment Against Ghaṭotkaca; Elephant-Corps Escalation

Devanagari script

एवमेते महेष्वासा: पुत्रास्तव विशाम्पते । भ्रातृन्‌ संदृश्य निहतानू प्रास्मरंस्ते हि तद्‌ वच:

Transliteration

evam ete maheṣvāsāḥ putrās tava viśāmpate | bhrātṝn saṃdṛśya nihatān prāsmaraṃs te hi tad vacaḥ ||

Translation

ప్రజానాథా! ఈ విధంగా మీ మహాధనుర్ధర కుమారులు తమ సోదరులు హతులైనట్లు చూసి, ఆ మాటలనే స్మరించసాగిరి.

Word by Word

• {'evam': 'thus, in this manner', 'ete': 'these', 'maheṣvāsāḥ': 'great bowmen, mighty archers', 'putrāḥ': 'sons', 'tava': 'your', 'viśāmpate': 'O lord of the people (address to Dhṛtarāṣṭra)', 'bhrātṝn': 'brothers (accusative plural)', 'saṃdṛśya': 'having seen, upon seeing', 'nihatān': 'slain, killed', 'prāsmaran': 'they remembered, they called to mind', 'te': 'they / your (sons), contextually ‘they’', 'hi': 'indeed, for', 'tad': 'that, those (very)', 'vacaḥ': 'words, counsel, statement'}

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra
• the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra (Kauravas)
• their brothers (kinsmen)
• Vidura

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Ignoring wise, welfare-oriented counsel (such as Vidura’s) leads to predictable moral consequences; when violence turns upon one’s own kin, regret arises too late, revealing the ethical weight of choices made earlier.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the Kaurava princes, seeing their brothers/kinsmen killed in the battle, begin to remember Vidura’s earlier warnings and advice, recognizing that his words have now come true in the unfolding catastrophe.