Shloka 1
धृतराष्ट्र–संजय संवादः: कर्ण–घटोत्कचयोर्निशायुद्धवर्णनम्
Dhṛtarāṣṭra–Sañjaya Dialogue: Description of the Night Engagement of Karṇa and Ghaṭotkaca
धृतराष्ट्रने पूछा--संजय! जब पाण्डवपक्षके और मेरे शूरवीर सैनिक पूर्वोक्तरूपसे युद्धके लिये उद्यत हो गये, तब भीमसेनने क्या किया? यह मुझे बताओ
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca— sañjaya! yadā pāṇḍava-pakṣasya ca mama śūrāḥ sainikāḥ pūrvokta-rūpeṇa yuddhāya udyatā abhavan, tadā bhīmasenena kiṃ kṛtam? etan me brūhi.
قال دْهْرِتَرَاشْتْرَة: «يا سَنْجَيا، حين تهيّأ محاربو جانبِ الباندَفَة وجنودي الأشدّاء، على النحو الذي وصفتَ من قبل، للقتال—فماذا صنع بهيمَسينا عندئذ؟ أخبرني.»
ध्ृतराष्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the epic’s ethical tension through Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s anxious, partisan questioning: even as war becomes inevitable, attention turns to individual agency—what a key warrior chooses to do at a decisive moment—underscoring how personal actions shape the moral and narrative course of conflict.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra asks Sañjaya to report what Bhīmasena did when both armies—Pāṇḍava and Kaurava—stood prepared for battle, continuing the battlefield narration in the Droṇa Parva.