Shloka 98
Duryodhana’s Śaraṇāgati and the Pāṇḍavas’ Resolve
Gandharva Encounter
उत्तरा: कुरवस्तेन गच्छन्त्यद्य यथासुखम् | क्षिप्ताक्षिप्ता तु सा शक्ति्त्वा शत्रूनू सहस्रश:
uttarāḥ kuravas tena gacchanty adya yathāsukham | kṣiptākṣiptā tu sā śaktvā śatrūnū sahasraśaḥ |
Mārkaṇḍeya sagte: „Durch jene Tat gehen die nördlichen Kurus noch heute in voller Ruhe und Sicherheit umher. Doch jener Speer, einmal geschleudert und dann wieder fortgeworfen, streckte Feinde zu Tausenden nieder.“
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse contrasts public well-being with the violent means that can secure it: a community may live “at ease” when threats are removed, yet the instrument of protection can be a fearsome weapon capable of mass destruction. It invites reflection on the ethical tension between security and the violence used to obtain it.
Mārkaṇḍeya describes how, due to a prior act or agency (“by that”), the Northern Kurus presently live without trouble. He then notes the extraordinary efficacy of a spear-weapon (śakti) that, when hurled (and again cast/handled), destroyed enemies in the thousands.