Shloka 693
उन्नाम्य वक्त्राणि तदा स च राजा जयद्रथ: । राजन! उस रणक्षेत्रमें हर्षमग्न हुए आपके सैनिकोंने सूर्यकी ओर देखातक नहीं। केवल राजा जयद्रथ उस समय बारंबार मुँह ऊँचा करके सूर्यकी अरि देख रहा था
unnāmya vaktrāṇi tadā sa ca rājā jayadrathaḥ | rājan! asmin raṇakṣetre harṣamagnair bhavadbhiḥ sainikaiḥ sūryaṃ prati naiva dṛṣṭam | kevalaṃ rājā jayadrathaḥ tadā punaḥ punaḥ mukhaṃ ūrdhvaṃ kṛtvā sūryasya gatiṃ nirīkṣamāṇa āsīt |
Sañjaya said: Then King Jayadratha repeatedly lifted up his face. O King, on that battlefield your soldiers, intoxicated with exultation, did not even look toward the sun. Only King Jayadratha, again and again raising his head, kept watching the sun’s course—anxiously measuring the time amid the pressure of vows, the dharma of war, and the nearing consequence of fate.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how time and consequence govern action in war: the exultant crowd ignores the sun, but the one under moral and strategic pressure watches it closely. It suggests that vows, accountability, and the inevitability of time weigh most heavily on the person who must face the result.
Sañjaya reports that, amid the fighting, the Kaurava soldiers are jubilant and inattentive to the sun’s movement, while Jayadratha repeatedly raises his face to track the sun—indicating his concern about the passing time and the danger tied to the day’s outcome.