Shloka 31
द्रोणपर्व — अध्याय १८: संशप्तकगणयुद्धे अर्जुनस्यास्त्रप्रयोगः
Drona Parva, Chapter 18: Arjuna’s astra-deployment against the Saṃśaptakas
ततस्ते संन्यवर्तन्त संशप्तकगणा: पुन: । नारायणाश्च गोपाला मृत्युं कृत्वा निवर्तनम्,तब वे समस्त संशप्तकगण और नारायणी सेनाके ग्वाले मृत्युको ही युद्धसे निवृत्तिका अवसर मानकर पुन: लौट आये
tataste saṁnyavartanta saṁśaptakagaṇāḥ punaḥ | nārāyaṇāś ca gopālā mṛtyuṁ kṛtvā nivartanam ||
Sanjaya said: Then those bands of the Saṁśaptakas turned back again. And the cowherds of the Nārāyaṇī host too returned—treating death itself as the only permissible ground for withdrawing from the fight.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a severe martial ethic: those bound by vow and warrior-honour accept no withdrawal from combat except through death, presenting duty as something upheld even at the cost of life.
Sanjaya reports that the Saṁśaptaka bands and the Nārāyaṇī cowherd-warriors, after a prior movement away, turn back once more into battle, regarding death as the only legitimate ‘permission’ to stop fighting.