Shloka 3

Adhyāya 16 — Daiva, Kṣatriya-dharma, and Public Reassurance to Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Devanagari script

कथं पाण्डोर्न नश्येत संतति: पुरुषर्षभा: । यशश्च वो न नश्येत इति चोद्धर्षणं कृतम्‌

Transliteration

kathaṃ pāṇḍor na naśyet santatiḥ puruṣarṣabhāḥ | yaśaś ca vo na naśyet iti coddharṣaṇaṃ kṛtam, śreṣṭha puruṣa |

Translation

毗湿摩耶那说道：“噢，人中雄牛！我以此念激励你们：‘如何使般度的血脉不致断绝，如何使你们的名声亦不至湮灭？’因此，噢，至善之人，我才催你们走向战争。”

Word by Word

• {'katham': 'how? in what way?', 'pāṇḍoḥ': 'of Pāṇḍu', 'na naśyet': 'may not perish

• may not be destroyed', 'santatiḥ': 'progeny

• succession', 'puruṣarṣabhāḥ': 'O bulls among men

• foremost men (vocative plural)', 'yaśaḥ': 'fame

• renown', 'ca': 'and', 'vo': 'your (plural)', 'iti': 'thus

• ‘so’ (quotative marker)', 'coddharṣaṇam (ca + uddharṣaṇam)': 'incitement

• encouragement', 'kṛtam': 'was done

• was made', 'śreṣṭha puruṣa': 'O best of men (vocative)'}

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśaṃpāyana
• Pāṇḍu
• Pāṇḍava lineage (Pāṇḍoḥ santatiḥ)
• the addressed heroes (puruṣarṣabhāḥ / śreṣṭha puruṣa)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames political and martial urging as an ethical calculus: preserving a rightful lineage (santati) and safeguarding honorable reputation (yaśas). It highlights how counsel can appeal to dharma-based continuity and public virtue, even when the means involves war.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśaṃpāyana reports a justification for having roused the heroes to fight: the speaker’s stated aim was that Pāṇḍu’s line should not be extinguished and that the warriors’ fame should not be lost, hence the deliberate encouragement toward battle.