Shloka 24
धृष्टद्युम्नं सात्यकिं च धृष्टद्युम्नस्य चात्मजान् | येच शस्त्रैर्वधं प्राप्ता: क्षत्रधर्मेण पार्थिवा:,*धृष्टद्युम्न, सात्यकि तथा धृष्टद्युम्नके पुत्रोंकी भी देखना चाहता हूँ। ब्रह्म! नारदजी! जो भूपाल क्षत्रियधर्मके अनुसार शस्त्रोंद्वारा वधको प्राप्त हुए हैं, वे कहाँ हैं? मैं इन राजाओंको यहाँ नहीं देखता हूँ। मैं इन समस्त राजाओंसे मिलना चाहता हूँ। विराट, द्रुपद, धृष्टकेतु आदि पाञज्चालराजकुमार शिखण्डी, द्रौपदीके सभी पुत्रों तथा दुर्धर्ष वीर अभिमन्युको भी मैं देखना चाहता हूँ”
dhṛṣṭadyumnaṃ sātyakiṃ ca dhṛṣṭadyumnasya cātmajān | ye ca śastrair vadhaṃ prāptāḥ kṣatradharmeṇa pārthivāḥ ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “(I wish to see) Dhṛṣṭadyumna, Sātyaki, and the sons of Dhṛṣṭadyumna; and also those kings who met their death by weapons in accordance with kṣatriya-duty. Where are they? I do not see these rulers here. I long to meet all those kings.”
वैशग्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames battlefield death within the ethical category of kṣatriya-dharma: those who fell by weapons while fulfilling the warrior’s duty are remembered as having met an ordained end, and the speaker’s concern is not vengeance but reunion and recognition of dharmic sacrifice.
In the Svargārohaṇa context, the speaker expresses a desire to see specific fallen allies—Dhṛṣṭadyumna, Sātyaki, and Dhṛṣṭadyumna’s sons—and, more broadly, the kings who died in the war according to the warrior code, asking where they are because they are not visible to him at that moment.