Shloka 64
Duryodhana-śibira-praveśaḥ — The Pāṇḍavas Enter the Kaurava Camp; The Burning of Arjuna’s Chariot
यदि नैवंविध॑ जातु कुर्या जिह्ममहं रणे । कुतो वो विजयो भूय: कुतो राज्यं कुतो धनम्,“यदि कदाचित् युद्धमें मैं इस प्रकार कपटपूर्ण कार्य नहीं करता तो फिर तुम्हें विजय कैसे प्राप्त होती, राज्य कैसे हाथमें आता और धन कैसे मिल सकता था?
yadi naivamvidhaṁ jātu kuryā jihmam ahaṁ raṇe | kuto vo vijayo bhūyaḥ kuto rājyaṁ kuto dhanam ||
সঞ্জয় বললেন— যদি আমি যুদ্ধের মধ্যে কখনও এ রকম বাঁকা কৌশল অবলম্বন না করতাম, তবে তোমাদের বিজয় কোথায়? রাজ্যই বা কোথায়, ধনই বা কোথা থেকে আসত?
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a hard ethical tension in the Mahabharata: political and military success is sometimes claimed to depend on crooked means, raising the question of whether victory, kingdom, and wealth gained through deception can be morally justified or spiritually sustainable.
Sanjaya, narrating events, frames victory and royal gain as outcomes enabled by battlefield stratagems. The statement functions as a commentary on how the war’s outcomes were shaped not only by valor but also by calculated, morally ambiguous tactics.