Mahabharata 9.61.19 — Shalya Parva, Adhyaya 61, Shloka 19

Duryodhana-śibira-praveśaḥ — The Pāṇḍavas Enter the Kaurava Camp; The Burning of Arjuna’s Chariot

Devanagari script

तदैवैष हत: पापो यदैव निरपत्रप:

Transliteration

tadaivaiṣa hataḥ pāpo yadaiva nirapatrapaḥ

Translation

สัญชัยกล่าวว่า “คนบาปผู้นั้นถูกสังหารในขณะนั้นเอง—ในคราวที่เขากลายเป็นผู้ไร้ความละอายโดยสิ้นเชิง”

Word by Word

• तदा: then
• तदा: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तदा
• Form: indeclinable (temporal adverb)

• एव: indeed/just
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव
• Form: indeclinable (emphatic particle)

• एषः: this (man)
• एषः: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: एतद् (प्रातिपदिक: एष)
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

• हतः: killed/slain
• Type: Verb
• Root: हन् (धातु)
• Form: past passive participle, masculine, nominative, singular

• पापः: sinful/wicked
• पापः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पाप
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

• यदा: when
• यदा: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यदा
• Form: indeclinable (temporal relative adverb)

• एव: indeed/just
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव
• Form: indeclinable (emphatic particle)

• निरपत्रपः: shameless
• निरपत्रपः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: निर् + अपत्रप (प्रातिपदिक: अपत्रप)
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse links moral collapse with immediate consequence: when a person becomes nirapatrapa (without shame or restraint), his downfall is depicted as swift and deserved, reinforcing the epic’s ethical emphasis on inner self-governance even amid war.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that a particular wrongdoer is killed right at the moment he acts (or stands) in a state of shamelessness, framing the death as a morally charged turning point rather than a merely tactical event.