ततो ज्वलनम् आदाय हुत्वा सर्वे पृथक् पृथक् ॥
जगृहुः कुशचीराणि चित्राणि कवचानि च ॥
ते च बद्धतनुत्राणा घृताक्ताः कुशचीरिणः ॥
मौर्वीमेखलिनो वीराः सहस्रशतदक्षिणाः ॥
यज्वानः पुत्रिणो लोक्याः कृतकृत्यास् तनुत्यजः ॥
योक्ष्यमाणास् तदात्मानं यशसा विजयेन च ॥
ब्रह्मचर्यश्रुतिमुखैः क्रतुभिश् चाप्तदक्षिणैः ॥
प्राप्य लोकान् सुयुद्धेन क्षिप्रम् एव यियासवः ॥
tato jvalanam ādāya hutvā sarve pṛthak pṛthak ||
jagṛhuḥ kuśacīrāṇi citrāṇi kavacāni ca ||
te ca baddhatanutrāṇā ghṛtāktāḥ kuśacīriṇaḥ ||
maurvīmekhalino vīrāḥ sahasraśatadakṣiṇāḥ ||
yajvānaḥ putriṇo lokyāḥ kṛtakṛtyās tanutyajaḥ ||
yokṣyamāṇās tadātmānaṃ yaśasā vijayena ca ||
brahmacaryaśrutimukhaiḥ kratubhiś cāptadakṣiṇaiḥ ||
prāpya lokān suyuddhena kṣipram eva yiyāsavaḥ ||
Then, having kindled the sacred fire and made an oblation, all of them, one by one, put on patterned garments of kusha grass and armor. Already clad in donned armor, anointed with ghee, wrapped over it in kusha garments, girded with a cord of murva grass — warriors who had given gifts by the thousand; who had offered sacrifices, left offspring, won the higher worlds, accomplished what was to be done, and now spared not their lives; preparing then to yoke their very selves to glory and victory; having already won the higher worlds by deeds of chastity, study of the Veda, and sacred rites with full gifts, they, longing to depart soon to those worlds by valorous combat, [gave their oath].
02b7483200b2 · publicado 19 jul 2026, 15:00:04 UTC
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The warriors array themselves for death as for a sacrifice: kusha garments, ghee, a cord of murva grass — the gear of a priest, for they regard death in battle as the final offering, in which they themselves are both victim and priest. Here lies the high ideal of the kshatriya: a life given as an offering. But this very rite is dedicated to an unjust cause — and so a sacrifice solemnly arrayed is not holy in substance. The verse teaches that a warrior's death can be understood as a sacrifice in which he himself is both victim and priest; that ritual purity of preparation does not cleanse the wrongness of the cause; and that the greatest self-sacrifice, devoted to vengeance and untruth, is an offering unpleasing to dharma, however solemnly it is performed.