Shloka 46

धृष्टद्युम्नेन समागतक्षत्रियगणगणना

Dhṛṣṭadyumna’s Enumeration of Assembled Kṣatriyas

Devanagari script

दीर्घकालेन सा गर्भ सुषुवे न तु तं॑ यदा । तदा देव्यश्मना कुक्षिं निर्बिभेद यशस्विनी,जब बहुत समय बीतनेके बाद (भी) वह गर्भ बाहर न निकला, तब यशस्विनी रानी (मदयन्ती)-ने अश्म (पत्थर)-से अपने गर्भाशयपर प्रहार किया

Transliteration

dīrghakālena sā garbhaṃ suṣuve na tu taṃ yadā | tadā devy aśmanā kukṣiṃ nirbibheda yaśasvinī ||

Translation

เมื่อกาลเนิ่นนานผ่านไปแล้วนางยังมิอาจประสูติได้ ครั้นนั้นพระมเหสีผู้มีเกียรติยศจึงใช้ก้อนศิลาทุบพระอุทรของตน

Word by Word

दीर्घकालेनafter a long time / by long time

साshe

गर्भम्the fetus/embryo

सुषुवेgave birth (bore)

नnot

तुbut

तम्that (fetus/child)

यदाwhen

तदाthen

देवीthe queen / noble lady

अश्मनाwith a stone

कुक्षिम्the belly/womb

निर्बिभेदsplit open / pierced

यशस्विनीthe illustrious (lady)

Speaker

गन्धर्व उवाच

Characters & Entities

ग

गन्धर्व (narrator/speaker)

द

देवी/यशस्विनी रानी (queen; identified in context as Madayantī)

अ

अश्म (stone)

ग

गर्भ (the unborn child)

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 highlights how intense grief and prolonged frustration can lead to rash, self-destructive choices; it invites ethical reflection on compassion, restraint, and the tragic consequences of acting under extreme distress.

What is happening in the narrative?

After a very long pregnancy with no delivery, the queen—desperate for the child to be born—strikes her belly with a stone, violently forcing a rupture; the Gandharva narrates this as a dramatic crisis point in the lineage story.