Shloka 6

Abhimanyunidhana-prakāśaḥ — Vasudeva–Kṛṣṇa–Subhadrā–Kuntī śoka-saṃvāda

Disclosure and Consolation

Devanagari script

वासुदेव उवाच अत्यद्भुतानि कर्माणि क्षत्रियाणां महात्मनाम्‌ | बहुलत्वान्न संख्यातुं शक्‍्यान्यब्दशतैरपि

Transliteration

vāsudeva uvāca | atyadbhutāni karmāṇi kṣatriyāṇāṁ mahātmanām | bahulatvān na saṅkhyātuṁ śakyāny abdaśatair api ||

Translation

Vāsudeva nói: “Thưa phụ thân, những chiến công của các chiến binh kṣatriya đại hồn—những điều đã hiển lộ trong cuộc chiến Mahābhārata—thật kỳ diệu khôn cùng. Chúng nhiều đến nỗi, dẫu có cố thuật lại tường tận, cũng không thể kể cho hết, dù trong một trăm năm.”

Word by Word

• {'vāsudevaḥ': 'Vāsudeva (Kṛṣṇa), speaker', 'uvāca': 'said', 'ati-adbhutāni': 'exceedingly marvelous

• astonishing', 'karmāṇi': 'deeds

• actions', 'kṣatriyāṇām': 'of the kṣatriyas

• warrior-rulers', 'mahātmanām': 'of the great-souled

• noble-minded', 'bahulatvāt': 'because of their abundance

• due to being many', 'na': 'not', 'saṅkhyātum': 'to count

• to enumerate', 'śakyāni': 'possible

• able to be done', 'abdaśatair api': 'even by/within a hundred years'}

Speaker

वासुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāsudeva (Kṛṣṇa)
• kṣatriyas
• Mahābhārata war

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the vastness and complexity of human action in war: the noble and astonishing deeds of kṣatriya warriors are so many that they defy complete enumeration. Ethically, it points to humility before the scale of sacrifice and the limits of narration, while acknowledging valor within the kṣatriya code.

What is happening in the narrative?

Kṛṣṇa (Vāsudeva) addresses his father, reflecting on the Mahābhārata war and remarking that the heroic actions of the great-souled kṣatriyas who took part are innumerable—so abundant that even a hundred years would not suffice to recount them fully.