Shloka 8
रणभूमिवर्णनम् — Devāsuropama-yuddha and the ‘River’ Metaphor of the Battlefield
न न एकेन योद्धव्यं कथज्चिदपि पाण्डवै:
na naikena yoddhavyaṃ kathañcid api pāṇḍavaiḥ |
Sañjaya sprach: „Unter keinen Umständen darf jemand allein gegen die Pāṇḍavas kämpfen. Wer sie im Alleingang angreift oder einen Helden verlässt, während er mit den Pāṇḍavas ringt, lädt die Schuld der fünf großen Sünden samt den geringeren Vergehen auf sich.“
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames battlefield conduct as an ethical obligation: do not engage the Pāṇḍavas in solitary combat, and do not abandon an ally fighting them. Courage must be joined to discipline, solidarity, and responsibility; reckless lone heroics and desertion are treated as grave moral faults.
In the Shalya Parva context of arranging battle formations and rules of engagement, Sañjaya reports an injunction to the Kaurava side: warriors should fight the formidable Pāṇḍavas in coordinated support, and anyone who fights them alone—or leaves a comrade unsupported while he fights them—incurs severe sin.