Shloka 64
धृष्टद्युम्नस्य द्रोणाभिमुख्यं तथा सात्यकि-कर्ण-समागमः
Dhṛṣṭadyumna’s advance toward Droṇa and the Sātyaki–Karṇa confrontation
मन्यध्वं मृत इत्येवमेतद् वो बुद्धिलाघवम् । युक्तो हास्य प्रतीघात: कृतो मे कुरुपुड्रवा:,मेरी बाँहें मौजूद हैं और मैं अपने ऊपर किये गये आघातका बदला लेनेकी निरन्तर चेष्टा करता आया हूँ तो भी तुमलोग आँख रहते हुए भी यदि मुझे मरा हुआ मान लेते हो, तो यह तुम्हारी बुद्धिकी मन्दताका परिचायक है। कुरुश्रेष्ठ वीरो! मैंने तो भूरिश्रवाका वध करके बदला चुकाया है, जो सर्वथा उचित है
manyadhvaṁ mṛta ityevam etad vo buddhilāghavam | yukto hāsya pratīghātaḥ kṛto me kurupuṅgavāḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “If you think, ‘He is surely dead,’ that only shows the shallowness of your judgment. O foremost of the Kurus, retaliation was indeed fitting in this case; I have taken due revenge.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse criticizes careless assumptions in the fog of war and frames retaliation as something that can be considered ‘fitting’ (yukta) within the martial-ethical code, while also warning that misjudgment (buddhi-lāghava) leads to false conclusions about life, death, and outcomes.
Sañjaya, narrating events to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, reports a speaker’s rebuke to the Kuru warriors: they have mistakenly assumed someone to be dead, and the speaker asserts that a justified counter-strike/revenge has been executed.