Mahabharata 9.3.256 — Shalya Parva, Adhyaya 3, Shloka 256

अध्याय ३: कृपस्य दुर्योधनं प्रति नीत्युपदेशः

Kṛpa’s Counsel to Duryodhana

Devanagari script

न्यवधीत्‌ तावकान्‌ सर्वान्‌ दण्डपाणिरिवान्तक: । उन्होंने दण्डपाणि यमराजके समान सुवर्णपत्रसे जटित विशाल गदा लेकर उसके द्वारा आपके समस्त सैनिकोंका संहार आरम्भ किया

Transliteration

nyavadhīt tāvakān sarvān daṇḍapāṇir ivāntakaḥ |

Translation

สัญชัยกล่าวว่า—ดุจอันตกะผู้เป็นความตาย ราวกับถือคทาแห่งทัณฑ์ เขายกกระบองใหญ่ประดับแผ่นทองขึ้น แล้วเริ่มสังหารทหารของท่านทั้งสิ้น

Word by Word

• न्यवधीत्: slew, killed
• Type: Verb
• Root: वध्
• Form: लुङ् (Aorist), 3, Singular, परस्मैपद

• तावकान्: your (men), your side's (warriors)
• तावकान्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: तावक
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• सर्वान्: all
• सर्वान्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सर्व
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• दण्डपाणिः: the staff-in-hand one (Yama)
• दण्डपाणिः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: दण्डपाणि
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• इव: like, as
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इव

• अन्तकः: Death (Yama)
• अन्तकः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: अन्तक
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied addressee by 'tāvakān')
• Antaka (Death/Yama)
• Daṇḍa (rod/staff of punishment)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames battlefield killing as resembling the work of Antaka (Death), highlighting the moral gravity and inevitability of destruction in war; it suggests that violence, once unleashed, functions like impersonal punishment and fate rather than mere personal heroism.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that a warrior (contextually, the opposing side’s champion) begins the slaughter of Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s forces, compared to Death himself wielding the punitive staff.