Shloka 18
तौ हि संजय दुःखार्तो विज्ञाप्यौ वचनाद्धि मे । इष्टं भृत्या भृता: सम्यग् भू: प्रशास्ता ससागरा
tau hi sañjaya duḥkhārto vijñāpyau vacanād dhi me | iṣṭaṃ bhṛtyā bhṛtāḥ samyag bhūḥ praśāstā sasāgarā ||
Sanjaya said: “Those two—my parents—will surely be overwhelmed with grief when they hear of my death. Therefore, at my request, you must convey this message to them: that I have duly performed the sacrifices enjoined, that I have properly maintained those who depended on me, and that I have governed the earth well, even to the encircling ocean.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even amid the certainty of death in war, one’s moral accounting is framed through dharma: performing prescribed rites, protecting dependents, and ruling justly. The verse presents ethical kingship and responsibility to others as the measure of a life’s worth.
The speaker anticipates that his parents will be devastated upon hearing of his death and instructs Sanjaya to deliver a consoling report: that he fulfilled sacrificial duties, cared for those under his protection, and governed the realm properly to its farthest limits.