To win this game, you have to read the following passage from Mahābhārata, in which Arjuna thinks he has to kill Yudhiṣṭhira, and send me a PM by 11:59 PM IST on Monday, November 21, 2022, with the correct answer to my question.
Question: Which line of eleven syllables in this passage is in the poetic metre called Śālinī?
There are three correct answers. You will get a point for finding each one. Remember that if the last syllable of a line is short, it can have the weight of a long syllable, and find as many Śālinī lines as you can!
Bonus Question: Which line in this passage has a rhythm similar to Śālinī, but has twelve syllables? Can you name its poetic metre?
Many of the lines in this passage have 8 + 8 syllables, and those that have eleven display different patterns of short and long syllables. The syllabic definition of Śālinī can be found in the Metres of Saṃskṛta Poetry topic in the Saṃskṛta Text Discussion Forum. Any member of India Forums can auto-join this private forum.
https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/post/162016300
Ready? Set? Go!
On the seventeenth day of the war, after Karṇa uses the Bhārgavāstra, Kṛṣṇa decides that Arjuna should leave battle to check on Yudhiṣṭhira's injuries. From his bed, Yudhiṣṭhira excitedly asks whether Arjuna has killed Karṇa, to which Arjuna replies that the Prabhadrakas (Pāñcālas) are being swallowed up by Karṇa, so Yudhiṣṭhira should come to watch his return to battle before Bhīma is eaten up by the Dhārtarāṣṭras.
Arjuna swears (Karṇaparvan 47.13):
Karṇaṃ na ced adya nihanmi rājan
sabāndhavaṃ yudhyamānaṃ prasahya
pratiśruty'ākurvatāṃ vai gatir yā
kaṣṭāṃ gaccheyaṃ tām ahaṃ rāja-siṃha
If I don't kill Karṇa now, King! attacking him as he fights alongside his relatives, may I go to that arduous fate that is sure for those who make promises and do not fulfil them, Lion of Kings!
Although Arjuna will fulfil this pledge by the end of the day, his acknowledgement of the penalty for failure foreshadows the reason that Yudhiṣṭhira will give for Arjuna collapsing on the road to svarga. Yudhiṣṭhira is not satisfied with Arjuna's pledge. Feeling the sting of being defeated and let go alive by Karṇa, Yudhiṣṭhira berates Arjuna for running away and tells him (Karṇaparvan 48.14):
dhanuś c'aitat Keśavāya pradāya
yantā'bhaviṣyas tvaṃ raṇe ced durātman
tato'haniṣyat Keśavaḥ Karṇam ugraṃ
Marut-patir Vṛtram iv'ātta-vajraḥ
If you lend this bow to Keśava and become his driver in battle, bad-natured one! then Keśava will kill the fierce Karṇa as the lord of winds equipped with the thunderbolt killed Vṛtra.
Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa have a long conversation in Śloka Anuṣṭubh metre (eight syllables per line), and then the text switches back to the Triṣṭubh metre (eleven syllables per line) in which Yudhiṣṭhira had been speaking. Arjuna expresses dismay that his vow requires him to kill Yudhiṣṭhira (Karṇaparvan 49.61-63):
jānāsi Dāśārha mama vrataṃ tvaṃ
yo māṃ brūyāt kaś cana mānuṣeṣu
anyasmai tvaṃ Gāṇḍivaṃ dehi Pārtha
yas tvatto'strair bhavitā vā viśiṣṭaḥ
hanyām ahaṃ Keśava taṃ prasahya
Bhīmo hanyāt tūbarak'eti c'oktaḥ
tan me rājā proktavāṃs te samakṣaṃ
dhanur deh'īty asakṛd Vṛṣṇi-siṃha
taṃ hatvā cet Keśava jīva-loke
sthātā kālaṃ n'āham apy alpa-mātram
sā ca pratijñā mama loka-prabuddhā
bhavet satyā dharmabhṛtāṃ variṣṭha
yathā jīvet Pāṇḍavo'haṃ ca Kṛṣṇa
tathā buddhiṃ dātum ady'ārhasi tvam
You know, descendant of Daśārha! my observance: whoever among humans may say to me, "Son of Pṛthā! Give Gāṇḍiva to another who may be distinguished above you or your missiles," I will attack and kill him, Keśava - as Bhīma would kill if he was called non-male. The King has said it to me in front of you, more than once: "Give the bow," lion of Vṛṣṇis! If I kill him, Keśava, I will not stay in the living world even a short time. And that vow of mine, well-known to the world, should be truthful, most excellent of those who hold dharma! So that Pāṇḍu's son may live, and I too, Kṛṣṇa, accordingly you should now give me insight.
Kṛṣṇa's advice is different in the two versions. In the Śloka Anuṣṭubh text, when Arjuna wants to kill Yudhiṣṭhira and conveniently says that it's his secret observance (upāṃśu-vrata), Kṛṣṇa advises him to break his word. In the Triṣṭubh text, it's a problem that Arjuna's vow is well-known to the world (pratijñā loka-prabuddhā), and he would want to die if he fulfilled it; accordingly, Kṛṣṇa advises him to fulfil it figuratively but not literally: "kill" Yudhiṣṭhira by speaking disrespectfully (Karṇaparvan 49.65):
yadā'vamānaṃ labhate mahāntaṃ
tadā jīvan mṛta ity ucyate saḥ
When one receives great disrespect, then one is called dead while alive.
Although three Śloka Anuṣṭubh verses intervene to suggest "killing" Yudhiṣṭhira merely by addressing him as "you" (tvaṃ) instead of "your lordship" (bhavān), Arjuna insults Yudhiṣṭhira at length (Karṇaparvan 49.73-87) when the text switches back to Triṣṭubh metre.
Ironically, Kṛṣṇa's advice in the Śloka Anuṣṭubh text, that when truth would forfeit everything, deceit is preferable, is exemplified when Kṛṣṇa in the Triṣṭubh text deceives Arjuna, reassuring him that he won't have to kill his brother, knowing very well that Karṇa is Arjuna's brother (Karṇaparvan 49.71):
mukto'nṛtād bhrātṛ-vadhāc ca Pārtha
hṛṣṭaḥ Karṇaṃ tvaṃ jahi sūta-putram
Exonerated of deceit and brother-slaughter, son of Pṛthā!
You be excited, kill Karṇa the sūta's son!
Even figuratively fulfilling his vow by insulting Yudhiṣṭhira makes Arjuna feel so guilty that he draws his sword to kill himself, but Kṛṣṇa advises him to praise himself to fulfil the same purpose. Thus, Kṛṣṇa ensures that neither Arjuna's vow nor his guilt gets in the way of the goal of killing Karṇa to win the war.
After Arjuna has praised himself and apologized to Yudhiṣṭhira, Yudhiṣṭhira reacts to Arjuna's "harsh speech" (as if the self-praise and apology didn't just happen) by getting out of bed, accepting his own faults, asking Arjuna to cut off his head, and deciding to go into forest exile. Perhaps the original version of this episode was simply that Yudhiṣṭhira berated Arjuna, Arjuna talked back to him, Yudhiṣṭhira felt worthless, and they reconciled; the whole problem of Arjuna's vow was invented later by someone inspired by Yudhiṣṭhira asking Arjuna to cut off his head. It is unbelievable that Kṛṣṇa has discussed the vow and Arjuna has drawn his sword (once or twice) in front of Yudhiṣṭhira without him noticing anything, requiring Kṛṣṇa to explain to him now, switching back to Śloka Anuṣṭubh metre (Karṇaparvan 49.107-110):
rājan viditam etat te yathā Gāṇḍīva-dhanvanaḥ
pratijñā satya-saṃdhasya Gāṇḍīvaṃ prati viśrutā
brūyād ya evaṃ Gāṇḍīvaṃ dehy anyasmai tvam ity uta
sa vadhyo'sya pumāṃl loke tvayā c'okto'yam īdṛśam
ataḥ satyāṃ pratijñāṃ tāṃ Pārthena parirakṣatā
macchandād avamāno'yaṃ kṛtas tava mahī-pate
gurūṇām avamāno hi vadha ity abhidhīyate
tasmāt tvaṃ vai mahābāho mama Pārthasya c'obhayoḥ
vyatikramam imaṃ rājan saṃkṣamasv'Ārjunaṃ prati
King, you know this, that the vow of the one whose bow is Gāṇḍīva, who is joined to truth, is famous regarding Gāṇḍīva: whoever may say this - you give Gāṇḍīva to another - indeed, that man in the world is to be killed by him. And you spoke that way to him. So, guarding the truth of that vow, Pṛthā's son by my suggestion committed this insult of you, lord of the earth! Mere insult to elders is called their slaying. So indeed, large-armed one! you please forgive this transgression both by me and by Pṛthā's son, King! for Arjuna's sake.
So, according to this part of the text, Yudhiṣṭhira was aware of Arjuna's vow before he provoked him! Did Yudhiṣṭhira forget, or did he want to get himself killed, or did he spitefully want to make Arjuna a liar who couldn't fulfil his vow?
Did the authors of these details expect their audience/readers to ask such questions, or were they just trying to entertain us with grandiose and violent vows?
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