Shloka 36
Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 47 — Arjuna’s Deterrent Declaration
Sañjaya’s Report
यदा कृतास्त्रो द्रुपद: प्रचिन्वन् शिरांसि यूनां समरे रथस्थ: । क्रुद्ध: शरैश्छेत्स्यति चापमुक्ति- स्तदा युद्ध धार्तराष्ट्रोडन्वतप्स्यत्
sañjaya uvāca |
yadā kṛtāstro drupadaḥ pracinvan śirāṃsi yūnāṃ samare rathasthaḥ |
kruddhaḥ śaraiś chetsyati cāpamuktiḥ tadā yuddhe dhārtarāṣṭro ’nutapsyat ||
Sañjaya sprach: „Wenn Drupada—vollkommen im Waffengebrauch geschult—auf seinem Streitwagen im Kampf steht und, im Zorn, beginnt, die Köpfe junger Krieger mit den von seinem Bogen gelösten Pfeilen gezielt auszuwählen und abzutrennen, dann wird in jenem Krieg der Sohn Dhṛtarāṣṭras (Duryodhana) von bitterer Reue verzehrt werden.“
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the moral cost of provoking war: even the instigator (Duryodhana) is foretold to suffer inner torment and regret when he witnesses the brutal, indiscriminate destruction of youth—showing that adharma-driven conflict rebounds as remorse and suffering.
Sañjaya predicts a battlefield scene where Drupada, an expert warrior, fights from his chariot in anger and kills young opponents with precise bow-shots; seeing such carnage, Duryodhana (Dhārtarāṣṭra) will later lament the war he helped bring about.