स त्वं क्षुद्रसमाचारो नीचात्मा पापनिश्चयः ॥
आ केशाग्रान् नखाग्राच् च वक्तव्यो वक्तुम् इच्छसि ॥
यः स भूरिश्रवाश् छिन्ने भुजे प्रायगतस् त्वया ॥
वार्यमाणेन निहतस् ततः पापतरं नु किम् ॥
व्यूहमानो मया द्रोणो दिव्येनास्त्रेण संयुगे ॥
विसृष्टशस्त्रो निहतः किं तत्र क्रूर दुष्कृतम् ॥
sa tvaṃ kṣudrasamācāro nīcātmā pāpaniścayaḥ ||
ā keśāgrān nakhāgrāc ca vaktavyo vaktum icchasi ||
yaḥ sa bhūriśravāś chinne bhuje prāyagatas tvayā ||
vāryamāṇena nihatas tataḥ pāpataraṃ nu kim ||
vyūhamāno mayā droṇo divyenāstreṇa saṃyuge ||
visṛṣṭaśastro nihataḥ kiṃ tatra krūra duṣkṛtam ||
'You, of base conduct, low of soul, resolved on evil — deserving reproach from the tips of your hair to the tips of your nails — wish to revile [me]? He, that Bhurishravas, with his arm severed, already seated in prayopavesha [the fast unto death], was slain by you though he was being restrained — what could be more sinful than that? Drona, being beset by me with divine weapon in battle, having laid down his weapons, was slain — what wrong is there in that, o savage one?'
f231796d8413 · published Jul 19, 2026, 5:08:17 PM UTC
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Dhrishtadyumna returns the blow: Satyaki struck down Bhurishravas, who had already sat in the fast unto death with his arm cut off — what could be more sinful? It is telling that the accuser is himself exposed in the worse deed: the one who reproached for killing an unarmed man killed a defenseless one. The verse teaches that he who judges another must first look at himself; and one who casts stones from a glass house only exposes his own guilt — for on this war, no one came with clean hands.