Shloka 4
द्रोणपर्व — अध्याय ८७: सात्यकेरनुयात्रा
Sātyaki’s resolve and departure to reach Arjuna
कपिराजध्वजं संख्ये विधुन्वानं महद् धनु: । दृष्टवा पुत्रपरिद्यूनं किमकुर्वत मामका:,जिनकी ध्वजामें कपिराज हनुमान् विराजमान हैं, उन पुत्रवियोगसे व्यथित हुए अर्जुनको युद्धस्थलमें अपने विशाल धनुषकी टंकार करते देख मेरे पुत्रोंने क्या किया?
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca | kapirājadhvajaṃ saṅkhye vidhunvānaṃ mahad dhanuḥ | dṛṣṭvā putraparidyūnaṃ kim akurvata māmakāḥ ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “Seeing in the thick of battle Arjuna—grief-stricken by the loss of his son—shaking his great bow and making it resound, and bearing the banner marked by the lord of monkeys (Hanumān), what did my sons do then?”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how personal grief can intensify a warrior’s resolve, and how attachment (Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s fixation on ‘my sons’) clouds moral clarity; it also signals the ethical weight of confronting a fighter driven by both duty and bereavement.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra asks Sañjaya what the Kauravas did upon seeing Arjuna—bearing Hanumān on his banner—enter the battle in a son-bereaved fury, shaking his great bow and sounding it as a challenge.