Shloka 53
धृतराष्ट्र-संजय-संवादः — दुर्योधनस्य ह्रदप्रवेशः
Dhṛtarāṣṭra–Saṃjaya Dialogue: Duryodhana’s Entry into the Lake
अद्य ते निहनिष्यामि क्षरेणोन्मथितं शिर: । वृक्षात् फलमिवाविद्धं लगुडेन प्रमाथिना
adya te nihaniṣyāmi kṣureṇonmathitaṃ śiraḥ | vṛkṣāt phalam ivāviddhaṃ laguḍena pramāthinā ||
সঞ্জয়ে ক’লে— “আজি মই তোক নিপাত কৰিম; ক্ষুৰধাৰ অস্ত্ৰে তোৰ মস্তক ছিন্ন কৰিম—যেনেকৈ প্ৰচণ্ড গদাৰ আঘাতে গছৰ পৰা ফল খহি পৰে।”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how, in the final stages of war, speech and intent can abandon restraint and dharmic moderation, turning into threats of absolute destruction; it implicitly warns that prolonged hatred corrodes ethical judgment and reduces opponents to objects to be ‘felled’ like fruit.
Sañjaya reports a warrior’s fierce threat to behead an opponent with a sharp blade, using a vivid simile: knocking fruit from a tree with a crushing club—signaling imminent lethal combat and the desire to end the remaining resistance.