Shloka 183
कर्णवधोत्तरं शल्य-दुर्योधनसंवादः
Aftermath of Karṇa’s Fall: Śalya’s Address to Duryodhana
ततो नाहं सृञ्जयान् केकयांश्न समानयेयं सुहृदो रणाय । “इसीलिये आज संतप्त हो रहा हूँ। शत्रुओंके समुदायमें फँसकर अत्यन्त असीम नरकतुल्य संकटमें पड़ गया हूँ। अर्जुन! तुम्हें पहले ही यह कह देना चाहिये था कि “मैं सूतपुत्र कर्णके साथ किसी प्रकार युद्ध नहीं करूँगा”। वैसी दशामें मैं सूंजयों
tato nāhaṃ sṛñjayān kekayāṃś ca samānayeyam suhṛdo raṇāya |
Sañjaya said: “Then I would not have summoned the Sṛñjayas and the Kekayas—our well-wishers—to the battlefield. That is why I burn with anguish today: hemmed in by the enemy host, I have fallen into a boundless, hell-like calamity. Arjuna, you should have told me beforehand, ‘I will not, under any circumstance, fight with Karṇa, the son of a charioteer.’ Had that been your resolve, I would not have called the Sṛñjayas, the Kekayas, and other friends to war.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights ethical responsibility in wartime decisions: leaders should not draw allies into lethal conflict without clarity about key commitments and constraints. It frames regret as arising from avoidable escalation—summoning friends to war when a decisive fighter’s resolve was uncertain.
In the Karṇa Parva battle context, Sañjaya reports a lament: had Arjuna declared earlier that he would not fight Karṇa, the speaker would not have summoned allied forces like the Sṛñjayas and Kekayas. The statement conveys being trapped amid enemy forces and suffering a ‘hell-like’ crisis, blaming the lack of prior disclosure for the present calamity.