Shloka 9
धृतराष्ट्रने पूछा--संजय! जिस समय तुम सब लोग अन्धकारमें डूबे हुए थे और पाण्डव तुम्हारे बल और पराक्रमको नष्ट करके तुम्हें मथे डालते थे, उस समय तुम्हारे और उन पाण्डवोंके मनकी कैसी अवस्था थी? ।। कथं प्रकाशस्तेषां वा मम सैन्यस्य वा पुन: । बभूव लोके तमसा तथा संजय संवृते,संजय! जब कि सारा जगत् अन्धकारसे आवृत था, उस समय पाण्डवोंको अथवा मेरी सेनाको कैसे प्रकाश प्राप्त हुआ
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca— sañjaya! yadā yuṣmākaṃ sarveṣāṃ tamasi nimagnānāṃ pāṇḍavā yuṣmākaṃ bala-parākramau vidhvaṃsya yuṣmān mathnanta iva, tadā yuṣmākaṃ teṣāṃ ca pāṇḍavānāṃ manasāṃ kā sthitiḥ? kathaṃ prakāśas teṣāṃ vā mama sainyasya vā punaḥ babhūva loke tamasā tathā sañjaya saṃvṛte?
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “Sañjaya, when all of you were plunged into darkness and the Pāṇḍavas were crushing your strength and valor, churning your forces as it were—what was the state of mind then, of my men and of those Pāṇḍavas? And when the whole world was thus covered by darkness, how did light arise again—either for them or for my army?”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how, in war, external conditions (like ominous darkness) intensify inner conditions—fear, confusion, resolve. Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s question implicitly contrasts clarity (prakāśa) with delusion (tamas): ethical and strategic steadiness depends not only on circumstances but on inner discipline and the perceived righteousness (dharma) of one’s cause.
During the Drona Parva fighting, a period of pervasive darkness/obscuration occurs. Dhṛtarāṣṭra asks Sañjaya how the Pāṇḍavas and the Kaurava forces could see or regain advantage—who obtained ‘light’—and what the mental state of both sides was while the Pāṇḍavas were breaking the Kaurava strength.