Shloka 50
“राजन! आपको तो यह विदित ही है कि गाण्डीवधारी सत्यप्रतिज्ञ अर्जुनने गाण्डीव धनुषके विषयमें कैसी प्रतिज्ञा कर रखी है? उनकी वह प्रतिज्ञा प्रसिद्ध है ।। ब्रूयाद् य एवं गाण्डीवमन्यस्मै देयमित्युत । वध्यो5स्य स पुमॉल्लोके त्वया चोक्तोडयमीदृशम्
rājan! āpako to yaha vidita hī hai ki gāṇḍīvadhārī satyapratijña arjunena gāṇḍīva-dhanuṣa-viṣaye kaisī pratijñā kara rakhī hai? tasya sā pratijñā prasiddhā. brūyād ya evaṃ gāṇḍīvam anyasmai deyam iti uktvā; vadhyo ’sya sa pumān loke, tvayā ca ukto ’yam īdṛśam.
Sañjaya said: “O King, you already know well what vow Arjuna—bearer of the Gāṇḍīva and true to his pledges—has made concerning the Gāṇḍīva bow. That vow is widely known: whoever says, ‘The Gāṇḍīva should be given to someone else,’ that man becomes, in this world, one who deserves to be slain. And you have spoken words of just that kind.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical weight of a warrior’s vow and the moral seriousness attributed to speech: words that challenge a sacred pledge (here, Arjuna’s bond with the Gāṇḍīva) are treated as provocations with grave consequences. It underscores honor-codes where reputation, oath-keeping, and restraint in speech are integral to dharma in a martial context.
Sanjaya reminds King Dhṛtarāṣṭra of Arjuna’s famous vow regarding the Gāṇḍīva: anyone who suggests it should be given away is deemed ‘fit to be slain.’ He then points out that the king has uttered precisely such words, implying the dangerous implications of that statement amid the tensions of the war.