Shloka 4
धृष्टद्युम्नस्य द्रोणरथारोহণं सात्यकेः प्रतिरक्षणं च | Dhrishtadyumna Boards Droṇa’s Chariot; Sātyaki’s Counter-Protection
कि नु मे हृदयं त्रसस््तं वाक् च सज्जति केशव । स्पन्दन्ति चाप्यनिष्टानि गात्र॑ं सीदति चाप्युत,“केशव! न जाने क्यों आज मेरा हृदय धड़क रहा है, वाणी लड़खड़ा रही है, अनिष्ट- सूचक बायें अंग फड़क रहे हैं और शरीर शिथिल होता जा रहा है
sañjaya uvāca | kiṁ nu me hṛdayaṁ trasastaṁ vāk ca sajjati keśava | spandanti cāpy aniṣṭāni gātrāṇi sīdati cāpy uta ||
Sañjaya said: “Keśava, why is my heart trembling and my speech faltering? Ominous signs throb within my limbs, and my body too is sinking into weakness.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how the approach of great wrongdoing and mass violence is sensed as inner disturbance: fear, faltering speech, and ominous bodily signs. Ethically, it underscores that adharma in war does not remain external—it unsettles the conscience and the very body of the witness.
Sañjaya, the narrator reporting the battlefield events, addresses Keśava (Kṛṣṇa) and confesses sudden trembling, speechlessness, and inauspicious bodily twitching—traditional portents that he interprets as signaling an impending disastrous turn in the battle.