Shloka 3
Adhyāya 140: Rātriyuddhe Droṇa-prāpti-prayatnaḥ
Night engagement and the attempt to reach Droṇa
यथा होष क्षयो वृत्तो ममापनयसम्भव: । वीराणां तन्ममाचक्ष्व स्थिरीभूतो5स्मि संजय,सूत! मेरे अन्यायसे वीरोंका जो यह विनाश हुआ है, वह सब कह सुनाओ। मैं धैर्य धारण करके बैठा हूँ
sañjaya uvāca | yathā hoṣa kṣayo vṛtto mamāpanaya-sambhavaḥ | vīrāṇāṃ tan mamācakṣva sthirī-bhūto 'smi sañjaya, sūta |
Sañjaya said: “O King, tell me in full how that destruction of the heroes came to pass—born of my own wrongdoing. Speak it all to me, O Sañjaya; I am steady now and ready to hear.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds moral accountability: the speaker recognizes that catastrophic loss can arise from one’s own adharma (wrongdoing) and seeks an honest recounting, showing the ethical need to face consequences with steadiness rather than denial.
In the aftermath of heavy slaughter, the king (implicitly Dhṛtarāṣṭra) asks Sañjaya to narrate exactly how the warriors were destroyed, acknowledging that the calamity stems from his own unjust actions, and declaring himself composed enough to hear the full account.