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

婆苏提婆说道：“父亲啊，在摩诃婆罗多之战中显现出来的，那些大魂刹帝利战士所行之业，实在奇绝非凡。其事迹繁多至极，即便竭力详述，也难以尽数；纵使历经百年，亦不能说尽。”

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.