Mahabharata 9.11.5 — Shalya Parva, Adhyaya 11, Shloka 5

Śalya–Bhīma Gadā-saṃnipāta and Śalya’s Bāṇa-jāla against Yudhiṣṭhira

Book 9, Chapter 11

Devanagari script

प्राणादाने महाघोरे वर्तमाने दुरोदरे । संग्रामे घोररूपे तु यमराष्ट्रविवर्धने

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca |

prāṇādāne mahāghore vartamāne durādare |

saṅgrāme ghorarūpe tu yamarāṣṭravivardhane ||

Translation

Sañjaya thưa: “Tâu Đại vương, khi cuộc đổi mạng ghê gớm ấy đang diễn ra—khó lòng chịu đựng—trong trận chiến mang hình tướng kinh hoàng, làm phình to cõi của Yama (Thần Chết), chiến trường hóa thành cuộc tàn sát không nương tay. Các dũng sĩ xông vào nhau với ý định giết; nỗi sợ và cơn hưng phấn dâng lên tùy bản tính mỗi người; và cuộc xung đột, đem chính mạng sống ra làm canh bạc, tiến tới như một cỗ máy hủy diệt u ám.”

Word by Word

• प्राणादाने: in the taking away of life (life-taking)
• प्राणादाने: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्राण-आदान
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• महाघोरे: very dreadful
• महाघोरे: Adhikarana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: महाघोर
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• वर्तमाने: while occurring/going on
• वर्तमाने: Adhikarana
• Type: Verb
• Root: वृत् (वर्तते)
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular, शतृ (present active participle)

• दुरोदरे: hard to escape/ill-fated (lit. difficult-belly/exit)
• दुरोदरे: Adhikarana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: दुरोदर
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• संग्रामे: in battle
• संग्रामे: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: संग्राम
• Form: Masculine, Locative, Singular

• घोररूपे: of dreadful form
• घोररूपे: Adhikarana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: घोररूप
• Form: Masculine, Locative, Singular

• तु: but/indeed
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तु

• यमराष्ट्रविवर्धने: increasing Yama's realm (i.e., causing many deaths)
• यमराष्ट्रविवर्धने: Adhikarana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: यम-राष्ट्र-विवर्धन
• Form: Masculine, Locative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by address 'O King')
• Yama

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames war as an extreme moral and existential crisis: battle is an ‘exchange of lives’ that inevitably enlarges Death’s domain. It underscores the ethical gravity of violence and the tragic cost that accompanies kṣatriya warfare.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to the king that the fighting has intensified into a terrifying, hard-to-endure slaughter—combatants pressing in with lethal intent, and the battlefield becoming a scene that metaphorically ‘increases Yama’s kingdom’ through mounting deaths.