Shloka 30
Adhyāya 108 — Nimitta-darśana and Drona’s counsel amid Arjuna’s advance (निमित्तदर्शनं द्रोणोपदेशश्च)
महौघवेगं समरे वारयामास पाण्डव: । मद्रराजं च समरे धर्मराजो महारथ:
sañjaya uvāca |
mahaughavegaṃ samare vārayāmāsa pāṇḍavaḥ |
madra-rājaṃ ca samare dharma-rājo mahā-rathaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: In the thick of battle, the Pāṇḍava—Dharmarāja Yudhiṣṭhira, a great chariot-warrior—checked the onrush like the surge of a mighty flood, and in that same combat held back the king of Madra as well.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even a ruler famed for dharma must, when duty demands, act decisively in war: restraint here is not passivity but the disciplined power to check destructive force and protect one’s side.
Sañjaya narrates that Yudhiṣṭhira, the Dharma-rāja, confronts the Madra king Śalya and halts the torrent-like advance of Śalya and his forces on the battlefield.