Shloka 383

Karṇa-parva Adhyāya 20 — Yudhiṣṭhira–Duryodhana Encounter and Escalation of Arms

Devanagari script

सादिश्रि: पत्तिसंघाश्व निहता युधि शेरते । कितने ही घुड़सवार बड़ी उतावलीके साथ पैदल वीरोंके पास जाकर उनके द्वारा मारे गये तथा झुडं-के-झुंड पैदल सैनिक भी घुड़सवारोंकी चोटसे मारे जाकर युद्धस्थलमें सदाके लिये सो गये थे

Transliteration

sādiśriḥ pattisaṅghāśva nihatā yudhi śerate | kitane hī ghuṛasavāra baṛī utāvalīke sātha paidala vīroṅke pāsa jākar unake dvārā māre gaye tathā jhuṇḍa-ke-jhuṇḍa paidala sainik bhī ghuṛasavāroṅkī coṭase māre jākar yuddhasthalameṃ sadāke liye so gaye the |

Translation

سنجے نے کہا—اس جنگ میں پیادوں کے دستے اور گھوڑے مارے جا کر میدان میں پڑے تھے۔ بہت سے گھڑ سوار بےتابی کے ساتھ پیادہ بہادروں کے پاس جا پہنچے، مگر انہی پیادوں کے ہاتھوں مارے گئے؛ اور دوسری طرف پیادوں کے جھنڈ بھی گھڑ سواروں کے وار سے کٹ کر میدانِ جنگ میں یوں گر پڑے گویا ہمیشہ کی نیند سو گئے ہوں۔ یہ منظر جنگ کی باہمی تباہ کاری کو نمایاں کرتا ہے—بے صبری اور جارحیت جلد ہی ہلاکت کا سبب بن جاتی ہیں۔

Word by Word

• सादिश्रिः: Sādiśrī (a proper name/epithet)
• सादिश्रिः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: सादिश्रि (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• पत्ति-संघाः: groups of foot-soldiers
• पत्ति-संघाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: पत्ति + संघ (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• अश्वाः: horses / cavalrymen (by metonymy)
• अश्वाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: अश्व (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• निहताः: slain
• निहताः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: नि-हन् (धातु) → निहत (कृदन्त)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• युधि: in battle
• युधि: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: युध् (प्रातिपदिक: युध्/युधि as locative form used adverbially)
• Form: Feminine, Locative, Singular

• शेरते: lie (down)
• Type: Verb
• Root: शी (धातु)
• Form: Present, Third, Plural, Ātmanepada

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sanjaya
• infantry (pādātā/patti)
• cavalry (horsemen)
• horses
• battlefield (yuddhasthala)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The passage highlights the tragic reciprocity of violence in war: rash haste and aggressive advance lead swiftly to destruction, reminding the listener of impermanence and the grave moral weight carried by warriors even when acting within the frame of kshatriya-duty.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sanjaya describes the battlefield where slain horses, infantry, and cavalry lie scattered. Some horsemen, charging impetuously toward foot-soldiers, are killed by them; elsewhere, groups of infantry are cut down by cavalry blows, leaving the field strewn with the dead.