Shloka 91
कर्णपर्व — अध्याय ५९
Arjuna Breaks the Encirclement; Bhīma Reinforces
प्रभग्ना: समरे भीता दिशो दश महाबला: । शक्रस्यातिथितां गत्वा विशोका हाुभवंस्तदा
prabhagnāḥ samare bhītā diśo daśa mahābalāḥ | śakrasyātithitāṃ gatvā viśokā abhavaṃs tadā prabho |
Sañjaya said: Routed in battle and seized by fear, the mighty warriors fled toward all ten directions. And many of those heroes, becoming ‘guests of Śakra’—that is, falling in combat and reaching Indra’s world—were at once freed from sorrow, O lord.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse reflects the epic’s kṣatriya-war ethic: fear can scatter even the mighty, yet death in battle is framed as an honored passage—‘becoming Indra’s guest’—suggesting a culturally sanctioned meaning for battlefield death and the ideal of meeting one’s end without lingering grief.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that, amid the fighting, warriors (identified in the running context as Saṃsaptakas) are broken and panic-stricken, fleeing in every direction; many are slain and are poetically said to go to Indra’s abode, thereby becoming ‘sorrowless’.