Shloka 31
Chapter 51: Saṃdhyākāla-saṃhāra
Evening Withdrawal after Arjuna’s Counter-Advance
तेषां जवेनापततां भीष्म: शान्तनवो रणे | पाज्चाल्यं त्रिभिरानर्च्छत् सात्यकिं नवभि: शरै:
teṣāṁ javena āpatatāṁ bhīṣmaḥ śāntanavo raṇe | pāñcālyaṁ tribhir ānarccchat sātyakiṁ navabhiḥ śaraiḥ ||
Sañjaya said: As those warriors rushed in with great speed, Bhīṣma, son of Śāntanu, met them in battle. He struck Dhṛṣṭadyumna of the Pāñcālas with three arrows and Sātyaki with nine—showing the relentless, disciplined force of a veteran commander whose duty is to check the enemy’s advance, even amid the moral gravity of kin-slaying war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights kṣatriya-dharma in its stark form: a commander must restrain an onrushing enemy through measured, effective force. It also implicitly underscores the ethical weight of war—skill and duty operate within a tragic field where even righteous discipline entails harm.
As a group of warriors charge forward, Bhīṣma counters their momentum. He wounds Dhṛṣṭadyumna with three arrows and Sātyaki with nine, demonstrating his battlefield superiority and his role as the Kaurava bulwark in the Kurukṣetra war.