Shloka 8

महाव्यूहप्रवर्तनम् / Deployment of the Great Battle Arrays

Devanagari script

परेण यत्नेन विगाहा सेनां सर्वात्मनाहं तव राजपुत्र । इच्छामि दातुं विजयं सुखं च न चात्मानं छादये<हं त्वदर्थे

Transliteration

pareṇa yatnena vigāhya senāṁ sarvātmanāhaṁ tava rājaputra | icchāmi dātuṁ vijayaṁ sukhaṁ ca na cātmānaṁ chādaye ’haṁ tvadarthe ||

Translation

اے راجکمار، میں نہایت کوشش کے ساتھ، اپنی پوری جان لگا کر دشمن کی فوج میں گھسوں گا اور تمہیں فتح اور آسودگی دلانا چاہتا ہوں؛ تمہاری خاطر میں نہ اپنے آپ کو چھپاتا ہوں نہ پیچھے ہٹاتا ہوں۔

Word by Word

• {'pareṇa (yatnena)': 'with the utmost/supreme effort', 'yatna': 'effort, exertion, strenuous endeavor', 'vigāhya / vigāhā': 'having entered, plunging into (as into a mass or flood)', 'senā': 'army, host', 'sarvātmanā': 'with one’s whole self

• wholeheartedly', 'aham': 'I', 'tava': 'your', 'rājaputra': 'king’s son

• prince', 'icchāmi': 'I wish, I desire', 'dātum': 'to give, to bestow', 'vijaya': 'victory, triumph', 'sukha': 'happiness, ease, welfare', 'na ca': 'and not

• nor', 'ātmānam': 'myself, my own person', 'chādaye': 'I conceal, I cover, I hide', 'tvadarthe': 'for your sake

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied addressee as 'tava rājaputra' refers to his son)
• Duryodhana (implied as the 'prince')
• Pāṇḍava army

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights wholehearted commitment and self-offering in service to one’s chosen cause: Sañjaya declares that he will not protect or withhold himself when acting for the prince’s benefit, aiming at victory and welfare. Ethically, it reflects the tension between loyalty to a patron and the perilous moral landscape of war.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya speaks to the king, addressing him through reference to his son as ‘prince.’ He vows to make an all-out effort, even entering the opposing (Pāṇḍava) host, to secure victory and happiness for the prince, indicating readiness for personal risk and active intervention amid the battle situation.