Shloka 543

Devanagari script

निहता: सायकै: क्रोधाच्चेदयक्ष पर: शता: । भरतनन्दन! कर्णने वहाँ बाणोंद्वारा बीस पांचाल रथियों और सौसे भी अधिक चेदिदेशीय योद्धाओंको क्रोधपूर्वक मार डाला

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca | nihatāḥ sāyakaiḥ krodhāc cedayakṣa-paraśatāḥ | bharatanandana! karṇena tatra bāṇair viṃśatiḥ pāñcāla-rathinaḥ śatād adhikāś ca cedi-deśīyā yoddhāḥ krodha-pūrvakaṃ nipātitāḥ |

Translation

三阇耶说道：婆罗多之喜啊，迦尔纳怒火炽盛，在那里以箭矢射杀了二十名旁遮罗车战士，又诛灭了百余名契提国勇士。于是，愤怒驱动屠戮，战场的死数在不息的箭雨之下节节攀升。

Word by Word

• निहताः: slain/killed
• निहताः: Karma
• Type: Verb
• Root: नि-हन् (धातु) → निहत (कृदन्त)
• Form: पुं, प्रथमा, बहुवचन

• सायकैः: by arrows
• सायकैः: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: सायक
• Form: पुं, तृतीया, बहुवचन

• क्रोधात्: from/through anger (out of wrath)
• क्रोधात्: Apadana
• Type: Noun
• Root: क्रोध
• Form: पुं, पञ्चमी, एकवचन

• चेदयक: O Chedi-king/leader (vocative sense intended)
• चेदयक: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: चेदयक
• Form: पुं, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• परः: another/other; further
• परः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पर
• Form: पुं, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• शताः: hundreds
• शताः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: शत
• Form: पुं, प्रथमा, बहुवचन

• भरतनन्दन: O descendant/joy of Bharata
• Type: Noun
• Root: भरत-नन्दन
• Form: पुं, सम्बोधन, एकवचन

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sanjaya
• Karna
• Bharatanandana (Dhritarashtra)
• Panchala
• Cedi
• arrows (sāyaka/bāṇa)
• chariot-warriors (rathin)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how krodha (anger) becomes a driving force that intensifies violence. Even within a kshatriya battlefield context, the text marks wrath as the immediate motive, implicitly warning that passion can eclipse restraint and magnify destruction.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sanjaya reports to Dhritarashtra that Karna, fighting fiercely, shot down twenty Panchala chariot-warriors and more than a hundred Cedi fighters with arrows, emphasizing the scale of casualties and the wrathful momentum of the combat.