Shloka 73
अभिमन्यु-परिवेष्टनम्
Encirclement and Counterassault of Abhimanyu
पितरं चार्जुनं युद्धे न भीर्मामुपयास्यति । 'शत्रुओंकी यह सारी सेना मेरी सोलहवीं कलाके बराबर भी नहीं है। सूतनन्दन! विश्वविजयी विष्णुस्वरूप मामा श्रीकृष्णको तथा पिता अर्जुनको भी युद्धमें विपक्षीके रूपमें सामने पाकर मुझे भय नहीं होगा”
pitaraṃ cārjunaṃ yuddhe na bhīr mām upayāsyati |
Sañjaya said: “Even if I face my own father Arjuna in battle, fear will not come upon me.” In the surrounding boast, the speaker declares that the entire opposing host is not even equal to a sixteenth part of his power, and that he would remain unafraid even when confronted by Kṛṣṇa—seen as the all-conquering, Viṣṇu-like embodiment—and by Arjuna. The passage highlights the moral tension of war: confidence and pride can harden into delusion, blinding a warrior to the ethical weight of fighting revered elders and divinely guided opponents.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse (and its surrounding boast) illustrates how martial confidence can become ethical blindness: claiming fearlessness even before revered elders and divinely guided opponents signals pride and misjudgment, a recurring Mahābhārata warning that adharma often begins with self-deception.
Sañjaya reports a warrior’s declaration of fearlessness: he claims the enemy host is negligible (not even a sixteenth part of his power) and that he will not fear even if Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna stand against him in battle.