Shloka 53
शंस मे तद् तथा चासीद् युद्ध भीष्मस्य पाण्डवै: । योषेव हतवीरा मे सेना पुत्रस्य संजय,उस समय युद्धमें शत्रुहन्ता भीष्मजीके साथ कौन-कौनसे वीर थे? संजय! पाण्डवोंके साथ भीष्मका किस प्रकार युद्ध हुआ? यह मुझे बताओ। उन वीर सेनापतिके मारे जानेपर मेरे पुत्रकी सेना विधवा स्त्रीके समान असहाय हो गयी है
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca | śaṁsa me tad yathā cāsīd yuddhaṁ bhīṣmasya pāṇḍavaiḥ | yoṣevā hatavīrā me senā putrasya sañjaya ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “Tell me exactly how the battle unfolded between Bhīṣma and the Pāṇḍavas. Sañjaya, which heroes stood with Bhīṣma in that fight? For with that warrior-commander struck down, my son’s army has become helpless—like a widow bereft of her protector.”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the fragility of power dependent on a single protector: when the leading hero falls, an army (and by extension a polity) becomes vulnerable. It also reveals Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s attachment and anxiety—ethical blindness born of partiality—contrasted with the Mahābhārata’s recurring insistence that dharma and right counsel, not mere might, sustain a kingdom.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra questions Sañjaya about the details of Bhīṣma’s engagement with the Pāṇḍavas—who supported Bhīṣma and how the fighting proceeded. He laments that after the loss of the principal warrior-commander, his son’s forces have become helpless, likened to a widow without protection.