Mahabharata 7.189.52 — Drona Parva, Adhyaya 189, Shloka 52
माद्रीपुत्र नकुलने आपके पुत्र दुर्योधनको दाहिने कर दिया और हर्षमें भरकर उसपर सैकड़ों बाणोंकी झड़ी लगा दी; फिर तो वहाँ महान् कोलाहल हुआ ।।
apasavyaṁ kṛtaṁ saṅkhye bhrātṛvyenātyamarṣiṇā | nāmṛṣyata tam apy ājau praticakre ’pasavyatāḥ ||
قال سانجيا: في خِضَمِّ القتال أرغمه عدوّه الشديد القسوة، الذي لا يعرف الصفح، على أن ينعطف انعطافًا مشؤومًا إلى اليسار. ولمّا لم يطق تلك الإهانة في ساحة الوغى، ردّ بأن ألزم خصمه هو أيضًا أن ينعطف إلى اليسار، مجيبًا المذلّة بضربةٍ مضادّة في عنفٍ تحكمه سنن الحرب.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how, in war, perceived dishonour provokes immediate retaliation; it implicitly questions the ethical spiral where affront and counter-affront replace restraint, even within a dharma-framed battlefield.
During combat, an enemy forces a warrior into an inauspicious leftward turn (apasavya). The warrior cannot bear it and responds by turning the opponent leftward in return—an act of countering humiliation with a matching manoeuvre.
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