Shloka 2
रथचिह्नवर्णनम् / Description of Chariot Standards and Allied Advances
आर्या युद्धे मतिं कृत्वा क्षत्रियाणां यशस्करीम् । असेवितां कापुरुषै: सेवितां पुरुषर्षभै:,धृतराष्ट्रने पूछा--संजय! द्रोणाचार्यने उस महासमरमें जब पाण्डवों तथा समस्त पांचालोंको मार भगाया, तब क्षत्रियोंके लिये यशका विस्तार करनेवाली, कायरोंद्वारा न अपनायी जानेवाली और श्रेष्ठ पुरुषोंद्वारा सेवित युद्धविषयक उत्तम बुद्धिका आश्रय लेकर क्या कोई दूसरा वीर भी उनके सामने आया?
āryā yuddhe matiṁ kṛtvā kṣatriyāṇāṁ yaśaskarīm | asevitāṁ kāpuruṣaiḥ sevitāṁ puruṣarṣabhaiḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “Having fixed his resolve upon the noble discipline of battle—one that brings renown to kṣatriyas, is shunned by the cowardly, and is embraced by the best of men—(Dhṛtarāṣṭra asks:) when Droṇācārya, in that great encounter, drove back the Pāṇḍavas together with all the Pāñcālas, did any other hero step forward to face him?”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames battle, when undertaken in accordance with kṣatriya-dharma, as an ‘ārya’ (noble) commitment that yields rightful renown—yet it also draws a moral boundary: such resolve is characteristic of the courageous and exemplary, not of the cowardly.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra, through Sañjaya’s report, inquires whether any warrior dared to confront Droṇācārya after Droṇa had routed the Pāṇḍavas and the Pāñcālas in a major engagement.