Shloka 29

कर्णेन युधिष्ठिरानीकविदारणम् / Karṇa’s Breach of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Battle-Line

Devanagari script

द्यां युगं युगचर्माणि संवर्तकबलाहकान्‌ । कालपृष्ठोडथ नहुष: कर्कोटकधनंजयौ

Transliteration

dyāṃ yugaṃ yugacarmāṇi saṃvartakabalāhakān | kālapṛṣṭho ’tha nahuṣaḥ karkoṭakadhanaṃjayau ||

Translation

آسمان کو جُوا بنایا گیا؛ یُگوں کی کھالیں جُوے کی پٹّیاں بنیں؛ اور قیامتِ صغریٰ کے بادل بندھن کا سامان ٹھہرے۔ کالپِرشٹھ، نہوش، کرکوٹک، دھننجے اور دوسرے ناگ گھوڑوں کی ایال باندھنے کی رسیاں بنے، اور سمتیں و بین السمتیں رتھ کے گھوڑوں کی باگیں بن گئیں۔

Word by Word

• द्याम्: heaven, sky
• द्याम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: दिव्
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• युगम्: yoke; age/epoch
• युगम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: युग
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• युगचर्माणि: yoke-leathers (straps made of hide for the yoke)
• युगचर्माणि: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: युगचर्मन्
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Plural

• संवर्तकबलाहकान्: the world-dissolution clouds (pralaya-clouds)
• संवर्तकबलाहकान्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: संवर्तकबलाहक
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• कालपृष्ठः: Kālapṛṣṭha (a nāga name; 'time-backed')
• कालपृष्ठः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: कालपृष्ठ
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• उत: and; also
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: उत

• नहुषः: Nahuṣa (a nāga name)
• नहुषः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: नहुष
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• कर्कोटकः: Karkoṭaka (a nāga name)
• कर्कोटकः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: कर्कोटक
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• धनंजयः: Dhanañjaya (a nāga name; also an epithet of Arjuna)
• धनंजयः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: धनंजय
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

Speaker

दुर्योधन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Duryodhana
• Dyauḥ (Sky/Heaven)
• Yuga (cosmic age, as metaphor)
• Saṃvartaka Balāhaka (pralaya clouds)
• Kālapṛṣṭha (nāga)
• Nahuṣa (nāga)
• Karkoṭaka (nāga)
• Dhanaṃjaya (nāga)
• Nāgas (serpents)
• Diśas (directions)
• Vidiśas (intermediate directions)
• Yoke
• Yoke-straps
• Reins
• Horse-mane fastening ropes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse illustrates how a warrior-king’s rhetoric can inflate human conflict into cosmic inevitability. Ethically, it warns that grandiose self-justification and fascination with power can eclipse discernment (dharma-vicāra) and the duty to restrain violence.

What is happening in the narrative?

Duryodhana describes an imagined, cosmic-scale chariot harnessing: sky as yoke, pralaya-clouds as gear, nāgas as fastening ropes, and the directions as reins. It is a poetic intensification of the war’s magnitude and his own martial resolve.