Shloka 28

Gadāyuddhe Kṛṣṇopadeśaḥ (Kṛṣṇa’s Counsel in the Mace-Duel) — Śalya-parva 57

Devanagari script

इन्द्राशनिसमां घोरां यमदण्डमिवोद्यताम्‌

Transliteration

indrāśanisamāṃ ghorāṃ yamadaṇḍamivodyatām

Translation

น่าสะพรึงดุจวัชระของพระอินทร์ และยกสูงดุจทัณฑ์แห่งพระยม.

Word by Word

• इन्द्राशनिसमाम्: equal to Indra’s thunderbolt
• इन्द्राशनिसमाम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: इन्द्राशनि-सम (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• घोराम्: terrible, dreadful
• घोराम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: घोर (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• यमदण्डम्: Yama’s staff/rod (of punishment)
• यमदण्डम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: यम-दण्ड (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

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

• उद्यताम्: raised, uplifted (held aloft)
• उद्यताम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: उद्-यत (धातु: यत्)
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Indra
• Yama
• Indra’s thunderbolt (vajra)
• Yama’s staff (daṇḍa)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the moral gravity of war by likening a raised weapon to divine instruments of destruction (Indra’s vajra) and death’s authority (Yama’s staff), reminding the listener that violence on the battlefield carries the shadow of inevitable mortality and karmic consequence.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya, narrating events to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, describes a combatant’s weapon being lifted to strike, using powerful comparisons to convey its terrifying, death-dealing readiness and the heightened intensity of the battle.