Shloka 71

भीमसेनस्य बहुमहारथसंयुगः

Bhīmasena’s Engagement with Multiple Mahārathas

Devanagari script

निःश्वसन्तं यथा नागमर्जुन: प्रणयात्‌ सखा । निवर्तस्व महाबाहो नानृतं कर्तुमहसि,उस समय श्रीकृष्णके नेत्र क्रोधसे व्याप्त हो रहे थे और वे फुफकारते हुए सर्पके समान लम्बी साँस खींच रहे थे। उनके सखा अर्जुन आर्तभावसे प्रेमपूर्वक बोले--“महाबाहो! लौटिये, अपनी प्रतिज्ञाको झूठी न कीजिये

Transliteration

niḥśvasantaṃ yathā nāgam arjunaḥ praṇayāt sakhā | nivartasva mahābāho nānṛtaṃ kartum arhasi ||

Translation

اُسے پھنکارنے والے سانپ کی مانند لمبی سانسیں لیتے دیکھ کر، سکھا ارجن نے محبت سے کہا—“اے مہاباہو! لوٹ آئیے؛ آپ کے لیے اپنی پرتِگیا کو جھوٹا کرنا مناسب نہیں۔”

Word by Word

• {'niḥśvasantam': 'breathing out heavily

• heaving long breaths (accusative singular, present participle)', 'yathā': 'like

• as', 'nāgam': 'serpent

• nāga (accusative singular)', 'arjunaḥ': 'Arjuna (nominative singular)', 'praṇayāt': 'out of affection/intimacy

• from loving regard (ablative singular)', 'sakhā': 'friend (nominative singular)', 'nivartasva': 'turn back

• withdraw (2nd person singular, imperative, middle)', 'mahābāho': 'O mighty-armed one (vocative singular

• epithet of a great warrior, here addressed to Kṛṣṇa in context)', 'na': 'not', 'anṛtam': 'untruth

• that which makes a statement/vow false (accusative singular)', 'kartum': 'to do

• to make (infinitive)', 'arhasi': 'you ought

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Arjuna
• Kṛṣṇa (implied by context as the one addressed/observed)
• nāga (serpent, as simile)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even in the heat of battle, one must not abandon truthfulness and fidelity to one’s pledged word; righteous conduct (dharma) includes restraining anger and ensuring that a vow is not rendered false.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes a moment of intense wrath (the addressed hero breathing like a serpent). Arjuna, as a close friend, urgently asks him to turn back and not act in a way that would make his vow untrue—an appeal to ethical consistency amid escalating conflict.