छिन्नेच्छाच्छमिति न यावदङ्गभङ्गं कुर्वन्तो ज्वलदनलोज्ज्वलाः पृषत्काः । तावद् द्राग्द्रुतमित एहि मित्र यामो यामोऽयं प्रवहति वासरश्चतुर्थः ॥ ५३ ॥
chinnēcchācchamiti na yāvadaṅgabhaṅgaṁ kurvantō jvaladanalōjjvalāḥ pṛṣatkāḥ | tāvad drāgdrutamita ēhi mitra yāmō yāmō’yaṁ pravahati vāsaraścaturthaḥ || 53 ||
- Another reading: द्राग्द्रुतमिति (drāgdrutamiti) for द्राग्द्रुतमित
Translation
"'Your wish to fight is spent,' I tell you plainly: before these arrows, bright as blazing fire, break our limbs, quickly, fast, come away from here, friend, let us go: this is the fourth watch of the day, Death's."
Word by word
- chinna
- is spent
- icchā
- your wish to fight
- accham
- plainly
- iti
- thus
- na
- not
- yāvad
- (yāvat) before
- aṅga
- our limbs
- bhaṅgaṁ
- break
- kurvantō
- (kurvantaḥ) do
- jvalad
- (jvalat) blazing
- anala
- as fire
- ujjvalāḥ
- bright
- pṛṣatkāḥ
- arrows
- tāvad
- (tāvat) so long
- drāg
- (drāk) quickly
- drutam
- fast
- ita
- (itaḥ) from here
- ēhi
- come away
- mitra
- friend
- yāmō
- (yāmaḥ) let us go; the watch, Death's
- ayaṁ
- this
- pravahati
- is passing
- vāsaraś
- (vāsaraḥ) of the day
- caturthaḥ
- the fourth
Meaning
The sarga ends with one tired warrior speaking to another. The first commentary: the friend's eagerness for war has gone with weariness, so he gives him honest, harmless advice. The last line plays on yāma, "let us go" and "a watch of the day", and also "Yama's": the fourth watch, the last of the day, belongs to Death. The day is ending, the killing will go on, and the wise thing is to leave. It is a human voice to close a sarga of spectacle.