।। विप्रयातांस्तु वो भिन्नान् पाण्डवा: कृतविप्रिया:
viprayātāṁs tu vo bhinnān pāṇḍavāḥ kṛtavipriyāḥ
Sañjaya said: “Those of your men who had turned away and become scattered, the Pāṇḍavas pursued and—having brought them back into submission—dealt with them as the battlefield demanded.”
संजय उवाच
Even amid warfare, effective leadership includes restoring cohesion and reducing hostility where possible—turning scattered or wavering opponents into a non-threatening state through conciliation rather than relying only on force.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that some of the Kaurava troops had broken formation and drifted away; the Pāṇḍavas responded by bringing such men into a pacified, non-hostile condition, indicating control of the battlefield situation and the ability to manage fractured enemy elements.