Shloka 38
द्रौणि-पार्षतयोर्युद्धम् | The Duel of Aśvatthāmā
Drauṇi) and Dhṛṣṭadyumna (Pārṣata
वेपमान इव क्रोधाद् व्यादिदेशाथ दुर्जयम् । गच्छ दुर्जय राधेयं पुरो ग्रसति पाण्डव:
vepamāna iva krodhād vyādideśātha durjayam | gaccha durjaya rādheyaṃ puro grasati pāṇḍavaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Trembling, as it were, with anger, he then issued an order to Durjaya: “Go, Durjaya—(go to) Rādheya (Karna). The Pāṇḍava is pressing forward in the van, as though to swallow up all before him.” In the ethical frame of the epic, the line underscores how wrath drives commanders to urgent, sometimes rash, commands amid the collapsing order of battle.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how krodha (anger) destabilizes judgment and accelerates coercive decision-making in war; even rightful martial resolve can be ethically compromised when driven by wrath rather than steadiness and discernment.
Sañjaya reports that a commander, shaken with anger, orders the warrior Durjaya to go to Rādheya (Karna), because a Pāṇḍava is advancing at the front and threatening to overwhelm the Kaurava formation.