Shloka 19
भारत! रणभूमिमें कुपित हुए सात्यकिने आपके महारथी पुत्रकी छातीमें अस्सी सायकोंद्वारा प्रहार किया ।। ततो<स्य वाहान् समरे शरैर्निन्ये यमक्षयम् । सारथिं च रथात् तूर्ण पातयामास पत्रिणा,फिर समरांगणमें अपने बाणोंद्वारा घायल करके उसके घोड़ोंको यमलोक पहुँचा दिया और एक पंखयुक्त बाणसे मारकर उसके सारथिको भी तुरंत ही रथसे नीचे गिरा दिया
tato 'sya vāhān samare śarair ninye yamakṣayam | sārathiṁ ca rathāt tūrṇaṁ pātayāmāsa patriṇā ||
Sañjaya said: Then in that battle Sātyaki struck down his foe’s horses with arrows, sending them to Yama’s abode; and with a swift, feathered shaft he at once felled the charioteer from the chariot.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the grim logic of battlefield duty: victory often depends on disabling the enemy’s means of movement and coordination (horses and charioteer). Ethically, it underscores how war compresses moral choice into harsh necessity, repeatedly confronting warriors with death as an ever-present outcome (symbolized by Yama’s abode).
Sātyaki, enraged in the fight, shoots down the opponent’s chariot horses with arrows and then strikes the charioteer with a feathered arrow, causing him to fall from the chariot, thereby crippling the enemy’s chariot unit.