Shloka 29
Arjuna–Bhīṣma Strategic Engagement and Mutual Arrow-Interdiction (भीष्मार्जुनसमागमः)
प्रयुद्धानां प्रभग्नानां पुनरावर्तिनामपि | नात्र स्वेषां परेषां वा विशेष: समदृश्यत,कुछ लोग युद्ध करते, कुछ भागते और कुछ भागकर फिर लौट आते थे। इस बातमें अपने और शत्रुपक्षके सैनिकोंमें कोई अन्तर नहीं दिखायी देता था
prayuddhānāṁ prabhagnānāṁ punarāvartinām api | nātra sveṣāṁ pareṣāṁ vā viśeṣaḥ samadṛśyata ||
Sañjaya said: Among those who were fighting, those who had been routed, and even those who fled only to return again, no distinction could be seen there between one’s own troops and the enemy’s.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights that in the turmoil of war, the same patterns of bravery, fear, retreat, and return arise on both sides; ethical reflection sees a shared human condition rather than a simplistic moral superiority of ‘ours’ over ‘theirs’.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the battlefield had become so chaotic that fighters, the routed, and those who fled and came back were mixed together, making it impossible to distinguish clearly between the Kaurava and Pāṇḍava soldiers by their conduct.