Shloka 19
Śaineya’s Breakthrough and Reunion with Arjuna (शैनेयस्य समागमः)
कि नु वा कुरव: कृत्यं विदधु: कालचोदिता: । दारुणैकायने काले कथं वा प्रतिपेदिरे,उन दोनों अत्यन्त वेगशाली वीरोंको वहाँ सबका उल्लंघन करके घुसे हुए देख तथा सिन्धुराज जयद्रथको गाण्डीवसे छूटे हुए बाणोंकी सीमामें उपस्थित पाकर कालप्रेरित कौरवोंने वहाँ कौन-सा कार्य किया? उस दारुण संहारके समय, जहाँ मृत्युके सिवा दूसरी कोई गति नहीं थी, किस प्रकार उन्होंने कर्तव्यका निश्चय किया?
kiṁ nu vā kuravaḥ kṛtyaṁ vidadhuḥ kālacoditāḥ | dāruṇaikāyane kāle kathaṁ vā pratipedire ||
Sanjaya said: Driven onward by Time itself, what course of action did the Kurus undertake then? And in that dreadful hour of one-way destruction—when there was no path forward except death—how did they arrive at a resolve about what ought to be done?
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a moral and strategic crisis: even when events seem driven by Kāla (Time/Fate) and the situation appears to allow only destruction, one is still compelled to deliberate on kṛtya—what ought to be done. It highlights the tension between inevitability and responsibility.
Sanjaya, narrating to Dhritarashtra, heightens suspense by asking what the Kaurava host did at a terrifying turning point in battle. The emphasis is on their reaction and resolve when the battlefield situation had become grim and seemingly irreversible.