Shloka 1
है ० बक। ] अतडि्शशाड< चतुरशीतितमो< ध्याय: धृतराष्ट्रके दस पुत्रोंका वध, कर्णका भय और शल्यका समझाना तथा नकुल और वृषसेनका युद्ध संजय उवाच दुःशासने तु निहते तव पुत्रा महारथा: । महाक्रोधविषा वीरा: समरेष्वपलायिन:,इति श्रीमहा भारते कर्णपर्वणि वृषसेनयुद्धे नकुलपराजये चतुरशीतितमो<ध्याय: ।।
sañjaya uvāca | duḥśāsane tu nihate tava putrā mahārathāḥ | mahākrodhaviṣā vīrāḥ samareṣv apalāyinaḥ ||
Sanjaya said: When Duḥśāsana had been slain, your sons—great chariot-warriors—became like poison through their immense wrath. Those heroes, unaccustomed to retreat, stood their ground in the battles. The verse shows how grief and rage can harden into a destructive resolve, binding warriors ever tighter to the cycle of violence even when prudence would counsel restraint.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical danger of anger after loss: grief can transmute into a ‘poisonous’ resolve that perpetuates harm. It implicitly contrasts steadfast courage with the need for discernment (viveka), warning that valor without self-mastery can become destructive.
Sanjaya reports to Dhritarashtra that after Duḥśāsana’s death, Dhritarashtra’s sons and their leading warriors, inflamed with intense rage, do not retreat from the battlefield and continue fighting with hardened determination.