Shloka 11
Śiva’s Battlefield Manifestation and Vyāsa’s Śatarudrīya Exposition (शिवप्रादुर्भावः शतरुद्रीयव्याख्यानम्)
दीर्यमाणं बल॑ दृष्टवा युयुधानशराहतम् । श्रुत्वा च विपुलं नादं निशीथे लोमहर्षणे,राजन! युयुधानके बाणोंसे आहत हुई अपनी सेनामें भगदड़ पड़ी देख और उस रोमांचकारी निशीथकालमें वह महान् कोलाहल सुनकर रथियोंमें श्रेष्ठ आपके पुत्र दुर्योधनने अपने सारथिसे बारंबार कहा--“जहाँ यह कोलाहल हो रहा है, वहाँ मेरे घोड़ोंको हाँक ले चलो”
sañjaya uvāca | dīryamāṇaṃ balaṃ dṛṣṭvā yuyudhāna-śarāhatam | śrutvā ca vipulaṃ nādaṃ niśīthe lomaharṣaṇe, rājan |
Sañjaya said: Seeing his army thrown into confusion and breaking apart, struck by the arrows of Yuyudhāna, and hearing in the terrifying midnight hours a vast, hair-raising roar, O King, Duryodhana—best among the chariot-warriors—repeatedly told his charioteer: “Drive my horses toward the place where this uproar is rising.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how leadership is tested amid fear and confusion: a commander must respond decisively to crisis, yet the ethical tension remains—courage and duty in war can coexist with the tragic reality that violence and panic spread suffering through an entire host.
Sañjaya reports that Yuyudhāna’s arrow-assault has thrown Duryodhana’s forces into disarray. In the frightening midnight tumult, Duryodhana repeatedly instructs his charioteer to drive toward the source of the uproar, seeking to confront or stabilize the situation.