Shloka 76
Śalya’s Objection to Sārathya and Duryodhana’s Conciliation (शल्यमन्यु-प्रशमनम् / Sārathyāṅgīkāra)
त॑ दहन्तमनीकानि तत्र तत्र महारथम् । क्षत्रिया वर्जयामासुर्युगान्ताग्नेमिवोल्बणम्
taṁ dahantam anīkāni tatra tatra mahāratham | kṣatriyā varjayāmāsur yugāntāgnim ivolbaṇam ||
Sañjaya said: As that great chariot-warrior burned the battle-formations here and there, the kṣatriyas began to avoid him and fall back—just as men would recoil from the fierce fire that blazes at the end of an age.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how overwhelming, near-apocalyptic violence in war can eclipse ordinary ideals of heroic engagement: even kṣatriyas, trained for battle, may withdraw when confronted with a force likened to the end-of-age fire. It implicitly questions the ethical cost of unrestrained martial power and the fragility of dharma amid catastrophic destruction.
Sañjaya describes a great chariot-warrior (contextually Karṇa) scorching the opposing formations across the battlefield. Seeing him devastate troops in multiple places, the kṣatriya warriors avoid direct confrontation and pull back, as one would instinctively keep away from a raging, world-ending blaze.