Shloka 41

Devanagari script

अमर्षशील शूरवीर दुःशासनने अपनी भागती हुई सेनाको पुनः स्थिरतापूर्वक स्थापित करके कुपित हो युद्धस्थलमें रथियोंमें श्रेष्ठ सात्यकिपर आक्रमण किया ।। स्वकेनाहमनीकेन संनद्ध: कवचावृत: । चतुःशतैर्महेष्वासै श्वेकितानमवारयम्‌,अपनी सेना तथा चार सौ महाथधनुर्धरोंक साथ कवच धारण करके सुसज्जित हो मैंने चेकितानको रोका

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca |

svakenāham anīkena saṃnaddhaḥ kavacāvṛtaḥ |

catūḥśatair maheṣvāsaiś cekitānam avārayam ||

Translation

قال سنجيا: وقد لبستُ الدروع وتجهّزتُ بالسلاح، أنا—مستنداً إلى فِرقتي الخاصة ومعي أربعمائة من عظام الرماة—أوقفتُ تقدّم تشيكيتانا. ويُبرز المقطع تصلّب العزم في ساحة القتال: فإعادة الاصطفاف بانضباط والمقاومة الشديدة تُعرضان كضروراتٍ تكتيكية، وإن كانتا تزيدان ثِقل العنف الأخلاقي في حربٍ بين ذوي القربى.

Word by Word

• {'sañjaya uvāca': 'Sañjaya said', 'svakena': 'with one’s own

• by one’s own', 'aham': 'I', 'anīkena': 'with an army division/formation', 'saṃnaddhaḥ': 'armed, fully equipped, ready for battle', 'kavacāvṛtaḥ': 'covered with armour

• armoured', 'catūḥśataiḥ': 'with four hundred', 'maheṣvāsaiḥ': 'great bowmen

• mighty archers', 'cekitānam': 'Cekitāna (proper name)', 'avārayam': 'I checked, restrained, blocked, held back'}

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Cekitāna
• anīka (army division)
• kavaca (armour)
• maheṣvāsa (great bowmen/archers)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights battlefield discipline and resolve: a commander’s readiness (armour, formation, supporting archers) enables him to restrain an opponent. Ethically, it reflects the Mahābhārata’s tension between necessary martial duty and the escalating cost of violence.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya narrates that he, armoured and supported by his own troop formation and four hundred expert archers, halted Cekitāna’s movement—describing a tactical check in the ongoing combat of Droṇa Parva.