Shloka 1
अध्याय ६० — कर्णस्य पाञ्चाल-सोमक-निग्रहः
Karna’s Suppression of the Panchala–Somaka Forces
/ (दाक्षिणात्य अधिक पाठके ४ श्लोक मिलाकर कुल ९६ श्लोक हैं) अपन बक। है २ 2 एकषष्टितमो< ध्याय: कर्णद्वारा शिखण्डीकी पराजय
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca |
nivṛtte bhīmasene ca pāṇḍave ca yudhiṣṭhire |
vadhyamāne bale cāpi māmake pāṇḍusṛñjayaiḥ |
kiṃ cakruḥ kuravaḥ sañjaya tan me brūhi
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “Sañjaya, when Bhīmasena had withdrawn and the Pāṇḍava Yudhiṣṭhira too had turned back, and when my forces were being cut down by the Pāṇḍus and the Sṛñjayas, what did the Kurus do then? Tell me.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral and psychological cost of adharma-driven conflict: Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s attachment to “my side” (māmake) turns the war into a personal obsession, and his questioning underscores how partiality and blindness to justice lead to fear and instability when consequences arrive.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra asks Sañjaya to report what the Kuru forces did at a moment when Bhīma and Yudhiṣṭhira had pulled back, yet the Kaurava army was still being heavily slaughtered by the Pāṇḍavas and their Sṛñjaya allies.