Shloka 7
'धर्मका चोला पहने हुए कुन्तीपुत्र युधिष्ठिरने युद्धपरायण आचार्यसे “शस्त्र त्याग दीजिये” ऐसा कहा था और शस्त्र रखवा दिया; इसलिये मैं उसके देखते-देखते उनकी सारी सेनाको खदेड़ दूँगा और समस्त सैनिकोंको भगाकर उस नीच पांचालपुत्रको मार डालूँगा ।। सवनितान् हनिष्यामि यदि योत्स्यन्ति मां रणे । सत्यं ते प्रतिजानामि परिवर्तय वाहिनीम्,“यदि ये रणभूमिमें मेरे साथ युद्ध करेंगे तो मैं इन सबका वध कर डालूँगा, यह मैं तुमसे सच्ची प्रतिज्ञा करके कहता हूँ। अतः तुम अपनी सेनाको लौटाओ'
sañjaya uvāca | dharmakā colā pahanē huē kuntīputra yudhiṣṭhirane yuddhaparāyaṇa ācāryase “śastra tyāga dījiye” iti uktvā śastrāṇi nikṣepayāmāsa; tasmād ahaṃ tasya paśyataḥ paśyataḥ sarvāṃ senāṃ khādayiṣyāmi, sarvān sainikān palāyayiṣyāmi, ca nīcaṃ pāñcālaputraṃ nihaniṣyāmi || savanitān haniṣyāmi yadi yotsyanti māṃ raṇe | satyaṃ te pratijānāmi parivartaya vāhinīm ||
Sañjaya said: “Since Kunti’s son Yudhishthira, wearing the cloak of righteousness, told the battle-minded preceptor, ‘Lay down your weapons,’ and had his weapons set aside, therefore—before his very eyes—I shall drive off his entire army. I will rout all the soldiers and, after putting them to flight, I will slay that base son of Panchala. If they choose to fight me on the battlefield, I will kill them all—this I truly vow to you. Therefore, turn back your forces.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights the tension between dharma as moral restraint and the brutal logic of war: a righteous appeal to disarm a revered teacher becomes, in the opponent’s eyes, a cause for humiliation and a trigger for a retaliatory vow. It shows how ethical gestures can be reinterpreted as strategic coercion, intensifying violence rather than ending it.
Sanjaya reports a warrior’s threat: because Yudhishthira induced the preceptor (Drona) to abandon his weapons, the speaker vows to drive away the Pandava host and kill the Panchala prince (typically understood as Dhrishtadyumna). He declares that if they fight him, he will slaughter them, and urges the opposing side to withdraw their army.