Shloka 21
तस्य तद् वचन श्रुत्वा दु:खितस्य विशेषत: । उवाच राजन पुत्रस्ते प्राप्तकालमिदं वच:
tasya tad vacanaṁ śrutvā duḥkhitasya viśeṣataḥ | uvāca rājan putras te prāptakālam idaṁ vacaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Hearing those words—spoken in deep distress—your son, O King, replied with a timely statement. Overcome by grief, he gathered himself to speak what he felt was appropriate to the moment, addressing the assembled warriors and elders around him.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even amid intense sorrow, one should speak and act with awareness of time and circumstance (prāptakāla). The verse highlights the ethical weight of measured, context-appropriate speech in moments of crisis.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Duryodhana, after hearing the distressed words of Aśvatthāmā, responds with a statement he considers timely, addressing those around him (including elders like Kṛpa).