Shloka 5
कर्णस्य सेनापत्यं, माकरव्यूहः, पाण्डवानामर्धचन्द्रव्यूहः
Karna’s Command; Mākara Formation; Pandava Crescent Counter-Array
एतेषु हि मृतेष्वद्य ये त्वया परिकीर्तिता: । ये5पि जीवन्ति ते सर्वे मृता इति मतिर्मम,आज तुमने जिन लोगोंके नाम लिये हैं, उनकी मृत्यु हो जानेपर तो जो भी अब जीवित हैं वे सभी मरे हुएके ही समान हैं, ऐसा मेरा विश्वास है
eteṣu hi mṛteṣv adya ye tvayā parikīrtitāḥ | ye 'pi jīvanti te sarve mṛtā iti matir mama ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “Now that those you have just named are slain, I am convinced that even all who still live are, in effect, already dead. When the foremost have fallen, the remainder’s life seems only a delay before ruin.”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse captures how attachment and fear can turn perception into fatalism: when leaders and loved ones fall, the mind may declare the rest ‘already dead,’ collapsing hope and ethical clarity. It highlights the psychological devastation of war and the danger of despair-driven judgment.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra responds to Sañjaya’s report of deaths on the battlefield. Hearing the names of those slain, he concludes that the surviving Kauravas are effectively doomed, expressing grief and foreboding about the inevitable outcome of the war.