Shloka 29
तेषु प्रकाल्यमानेषु दस्यून् दुःशासनोडब्रवीत् । निवर्तध्वमधर्मज्ञा युध्यध्वं कि सृतेन व:,वे हाथी जब कालके गालमें जा रहे थे, उस समय दुःशासनने लूट-पाट करनेवाले म्लेच्छोंसे इस प्रकार कहा--“धर्मको न जाननेवाले योद्धाओ! इस तरह भाग जानेसे तुम्हें क्या मिलेगा? लौटो और युद्ध करो”
teṣu prakālyamāneṣu dasyūn duḥśāsano 'bravīt | nivartadhvam adharmajñā yudhyadhvaṃ kiṃ sṛtena vaḥ ||
As those elephants were being driven toward the jaws of death, Duḥśāsana addressed the plundering raiders: “You who do not understand dharma—what will you gain by fleeing like this? Turn back and fight. What use is this running away to you?”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames battlefield flight as futile and dishonorable, urging a return to combat as the expected duty; it contrasts impulsive plunder and panic with the demanded discipline of righteous warfare (dharma) as understood in the epic’s kṣatriya ethos.
In the midst of the Drona Parva battle, as elephants are being pushed into deadly danger, Sañjaya reports that Duḥśāsana rebukes a group described as dasyus (raiders) who are retreating, commanding them to turn back and fight rather than flee.