Shloka 55
अनुसृत्य वधिष्यन्ति श्रेयान् न: समरे वध: । “यदि तुम अलग-अलग होकर भागोगे तो पाण्डव तुम सब अपराधियोंका पीछा करके तुम्हें मार डालेंगे। ऐसी दशामें युद्धमें मारा जाना ही हमारे लिये श्रेयस्कर है ।। सुखं सांग्रामिको मृत्यु: क्षत्रधर्मेण युध्यताम्
anusṛtya vadhiṣyanti śreyān naḥ samare vadhaḥ | yadi yūyam alag-alag hokara bhāgoge to pāṇḍav tum sab aparādhiyoṃ kā pīchā karke tumheṃ mār ḍāleṅge | aisī daśā meṃ yuddha meṃ mārā jānā hī hamāre liye śreyaskara hai || sukhaṃ sāṃgrāmiko mṛtyuḥ kṣatradharmeṇa yudhyatām ||
Sañjaya said: “If you scatter and flee separately, the Pāṇḍavas will pursue you as offenders and kill you. In such a situation, it is better for us to fall in battle. For those who fight in accordance with kṣatriya-duty, death on the battlefield is a fitting—indeed, an easy—end.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse asserts a kṣatriya ethical stance: when defeat and pursuit are inevitable, dying while fighting according to warrior-duty is considered preferable to fleeing and being slain as a culpable runaway. Honor and dharma frame the evaluation of death.
Sanjaya warns the Kaurava side that if they break ranks and flee separately, the Pāṇḍavas will chase them down and kill them; therefore he urges that it is better to stand and fight, accepting death in battle as the proper end for warriors.