Shloka 32
शिखण्डिनं च पुत्रास्ते पाण्डवं च धनंजयम् । राजशि: समरे पार्थमभिपेतुर्जिघांसव:,शिखण्डी तथा पाण्डुपुत्र अर्जुनपर आपके पुत्रोंने समस्त राजाओंको साथ लेकर युद्धस्थलमें आक्रमण किया। वे उन दोनोंको मार डालना चाहते थे
śikhaṇḍinaṃ ca putrās te pāṇḍavaṃ ca dhanañjayam | rājarṣiḥ samare pārtham abhipetur jighāṃsavaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Your sons, intent on killing, advanced in battle against Śikhaṇḍin and against the Pāṇḍava Dhanañjaya (Arjuna). Along with them, the assembled kings pressed forward toward Pārtha on the battlefield—driven by the resolve to strike down those two. The verse underscores the war’s moral tension: personal enmity and strategic necessity harden into a collective will to destroy, even as the targets include figures central to contested questions of dharma and rightful conduct in war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how, in war, intent (jighāṃsā—desire to kill) can dominate decision-making, drawing even many kings into a single destructive purpose. It invites reflection on dharma in conflict: whether strategic aims and inherited enmities justify collective violence against key opponents, especially when those opponents are tied to complex moral claims (such as Śikhaṇḍin’s role and Arjuna’s centrality).
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the Kaurava princes, together with allied kings, surge forward on the battlefield to attack Śikhaṇḍin and Arjuna (Dhanañjaya/Pārtha), specifically with the intention of killing them.