Shloka 37

Aśvatthāman’s Arrow-Screen and the Confrontation with Yudhiṣṭhira (द्रौणि–युधिष्ठिर-संग्रामः)

Devanagari script

यास्तिष्ठन्त्य: प्रमेहन्ति यथैवोष्टदशेरका: । तासां विश्रष्टधर्माणां निर्लज्जानां ततस्ततः

Transliteration

yās tiṣṭhantyaḥ pramehanti yathaivōṣṭa-daśerakāḥ | tāsāṃ viśraṣṭa-dharmāṇāṃ nirlajjānāṃ tatastataḥ

Translation

ఏ స్త్రీలు నిల్చునే ఒంటె ఆడదానిలా మూత్రం విడుస్తారో, వారు లజ్జలేని, ధర్మభ్రష్టులు; ఎక్కడైనా, ఎప్పుడైనా వారి ప్రవర్తన అటువంటిదే.

Word by Word

• याः: who (those women) / which
• याः: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: यद् (स्त्रीलिङ्ग-प्रातिपदिक: या)
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

• तिष्ठन्त्यः: standing
• तिष्ठन्त्यः: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: स्था (धातु)
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural, शतृ (present active participle)

• प्रमेहन्ति: urinate / pass urine
• प्रमेहन्ति: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: प्र-मेह् (धातु)
• Form: Present, Third, Plural, Parasmaipada

• यथा: just as
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यथा

• एव: indeed / exactly
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• उष्टदशेरकाः: camels (lit. uṣṭa-daśeraka, a camel-kind)
• उष्टदशेरकाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: उष्टदशेरक (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• तासाम्: of those (women)
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद् (स्त्रीलिङ्ग-प्रातिपदिक: सा)
• Form: Feminine, Genitive, Plural

• विश्रष्टधर्माणाम्: of those whose dharma/conduct has fallen away
• Type: Adjective
• Root: विश्रष्टधर्म (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine, Genitive, Plural

• निर्लज्जानाम्: of the shameless
• Type: Adjective
• Root: निर्लज्ज (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine, Genitive, Plural

• ततः: thereupon / from there
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ततः

• ततः: again/then; here: here and there
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ततः

Speaker

कर्ण उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Karna
• female camels (uṣṭa-daśerakāḥ)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames dharma as including modesty and socially regulated conduct; it condemns shamelessness (nirlajjatā) and presents loss of propriety (viśraṣṭa-dharma) as a moral failing expressed through outward behavior.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Karna’s speech, he uses a harsh simile (female camels) to denounce certain women as shameless and fallen from dharma, employing moral invective as part of the broader polemical exchanges within the war-time narrative.