Shloka 216
कर्णवधोत्तरं शल्य-दुर्योधनसंवादः
Aftermath of Karṇa’s Fall: Śalya’s Address to Duryodhana
अथापि जीवेत् समरे घटोत्कच- स्तथापि नाहं समरे पराड्मुख: । 'पार्थ! यदि महारथियोंमें श्रेष्ठ और उत्तम रथी तुम्हारा पुत्र अभिमन्यु जीवित होता तो वह शत्रुओंका वध अवश्य करता। फिर तो समरभूमिमें मुझे ऐसा अपमान नहीं उठाना पड़ता। यदि समरांगणमें घटोत्कच भी जीवित होता तो भी मुझे वहाँसे मुँह फेरकर भागना नहीं पड़ता
athāpi jīvet samare ghaṭotkacaḥ tathāpi nāhaṃ samare parāṅmukhaḥ | pārtha! yadi mahārathīnāṃ śreṣṭha uttama-rathī tava putro ’bhimanyuḥ jīvito bhavet, sa śatrūṇāṃ vadham avaśyaṃ kuryāt | tataḥ samara-bhūmau mama evam apamānaṃ na sahyaṃ syāt | yadi samara-aṅgaṇe ghaṭotkaco ’pi jīvito bhavet, tathāpi māṃ tatra-sthān mūhaṃ phera-kṛtvā palāyituṃ na prāpnuyāt ||
Sanjaya said: “Even if Ghaṭotkaca were alive in the battle, I would still not turn my back in combat. O Pārtha, if your son Abhimanyu—foremost among the great chariot-warriors, an excellent fighter—were alive, he would surely have slain the enemies. Then I would not have had to endure such humiliation on the battlefield. And if Ghaṭotkaca too were alive in the arena of war, I would not have been forced to flee from there, turning my face away.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames retreat as a source of moral and social disgrace for a warrior, implying that steadfastness in battle is integral to kṣatriya-dharma; it also highlights how the presence of exemplary heroes (Abhimanyu, Ghaṭotkaca) is imagined to prevent defeat and the consequent humiliation.
Sanjaya addresses Arjuna (Pārtha), reflecting on the war’s reversals: he says that if Abhimanyu and/or Ghaṭotkaca were still alive, they would have destroyed the enemies and he would not have had to suffer the shame of being compelled to flee the battlefield.