Shloka 51
उद्योगपर्व — अध्याय १४० (कृष्णेन कर्णं प्रति पाण्डवबल-वैशिष्ट्यप्रदर्शनम्) / Udyoga Parva, Chapter 140
Krishna’s appraisal of Pandava advantage and war portents
रुदत्य: सह गान्धार्या श्वगृध्रकुरराकुले । स यज्ञेडस्मिन्नवभूथो भविष्यति जनार्दन
rudatyaḥ saha gāndhāryā śvagṛdhrakurarākule | sa yajñe 'sminn avabhūtho bhaviṣyati janārdana ||
گاندھاری کے رونے کے ساتھ، کتّوں، گِدھوں اور کُرَر پرندوں سے بھرے اس ہنگامہ خیز میدان میں—اے جناردن—یہی اس یَجْن کا اَوَبھرتھ سْنان، یعنی اختتامی تطہیری غسل بنے گا۔
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames impending war through ritual metaphor: what is called a ‘sacrifice’ culminates not in sanctity but in a grim ‘avabhṛtha’ amid carrion-birds and mourning. It highlights the ethical cost of violence and the tragic inversion of dharmic ideals when conflict is pursued.
Karna addresses Kṛṣṇa (Janārdana), foreseeing the battlefield’s aftermath: Gāndhārī’s lamentation and a scene swarming with dogs and scavenger birds. He declares that this horrific scene will serve as the ‘concluding bath’ of the figurative sacrifice—i.e., the war’s completion.