Shloka 54
दुर्योधन–द्रोणसंवादः
Arjuna-vīrya-prasaṃśā and renewed battle formation
तेषु नष्टेषु सर्वेषु पृथिवीयं ससागरा । अयत्नात् कौरवेन्द्रस्य वशे स्थास्यति गौतम,“गौतम! उन सबके नष्ट हो जानेपर बिना किसी प्रयत्नके ही यह समुद्रसहित सारी पृथ्वी कौरवराज दुर्योधनके वशमें हो जायगी
teṣu naṣṭeṣu sarveṣu pṛthivīyaṃ sasāgarā | ayatnāt kauravendrasya vaśe sthāsyati gautama ||
Sañjaya said: “Gautama, when all those warriors have been destroyed, this entire earth—together with the encircling ocean—will, without any further effort, come under the control of the Kuru king (Duryodhana.” The line underscores the grim wartime logic that sovereignty is imagined as the automatic fruit of annihilating opposition, raising an implicit ethical tension between political victory and the catastrophic human cost that secures it.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the perilous assumption that political dominion naturally follows mass destruction—suggesting an ethical warning: victory gained through annihilation may be ‘effortless’ only in a cynical sense, while its moral and human costs are immense.
Sañjaya addresses Gautama and predicts that once the opposing forces are wiped out, the whole earth (ocean-girt) will fall under the Kuru king’s control—identifying Duryodhana as the beneficiary of the battlefield’s total ruin.