Shloka 52
वादयामास संहृष्टो नानावाद्यानि सर्वश: । राजेन्द्र! उस समय दुर्योधनको बड़ी प्रसन्नता हुई। वह हर्षमें भरकर सब ओर नाना प्रकारके बाजे बजवाने लगा ।। पञ्चालापि महेष्वासा भग्नास्तत्र नरोत्तमा:
vādayāmāsa saṁhṛṣṭo nānāvādyāni sarvaśaḥ | rājendra! tadā duryodhanasya mahān harṣaḥ samabhavat | sa harṣeṇa paripūrṇaḥ sarvato nānāvidhāni vādyāni vādayāmāsa || pañcālā api maheṣvāsā bhagnās tatra narottamāḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “O best of kings, at that time Duryodhana was filled with great delight. Overjoyed, he had many kinds of instruments sounded on every side. There too, the foremost warriors of the Pāñcālas—great archers—were broken and routed.” Ethically, the verse underscores how triumph in war can intoxicate the mind, prompting outward celebration even as it rests upon the suffering and collapse of opposing heroes.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral danger of exultation in victory: celebration can arise immediately from battlefield success, yet it may ignore the human cost and foster pride (mada), which the epic repeatedly portrays as a cause of further downfall.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Duryodhana, pleased by the turn of battle, orders instruments to be played everywhere in celebration, while the Pāñcāla great archers are described as routed/defeated at that spot.