Shloka 50
Sainyasaṅgraha and Bhāga-Vyavasthā (Forces Assembled and Rival Allocations) | सैन्यसंग्रह-भागव्यवस्था
“धृतराष्ट्रपुत्र दुर्योधनके द्वारा एकत्र किये हुए जो-जो नरेश अस्त्र-शस्त्रोंकी मारकाटसे व्याप्त हुए भयानक संग्राममें मेरे सामने आयेंगे
dhṛtarāṣṭraputra duryodhanakena ekatrīkṛtā ye ye nareśā astrāśastramārakāṭena vyāptā bhayānake saṅgrāme mama samakṣam āyāsyanti, te katicid api krodhena pūrṇāḥ syuḥ, svasvajanasahitaṃ raṇabhūmim āgatān sarvān tān rājñaḥ aham eka eva tathā vaśe kariṣyāmi yathā timināmā mahāmatsyaḥ jalasya anyāḥ matsyān nigilati. bhīṣmaṃ droṇaṃ kṛpaṃ karṇaṃ drauṇiṃ śalyaṃ suyodhanam, etān śv api nirotsye velā iva makarālayam.
Sanjaya said: “All those kings whom Duryodhana, the son of Dhritarashtra, has gathered—who will come before me into that dreadful battle filled with the slaughter of weapons—however inflamed with anger they may be, and even if they arrive on the field with their kinsmen, I alone will bring them under control, just as the great fish called Timi swallows the other fish in the waters. Even Bhishma, Drona, Kripa, Karna, Drona’s son Ashvatthama, Shalya, and Suyodhana (Duryodhana)—even these I shall restrain, as the shoreline holds back the ocean, the abode of makaras.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral tension between confidence and overconfidence in war: a warrior’s resolve to restrain violence can be framed as ‘control,’ yet the imagery (swallowing fish; holding back the ocean) also warns how claims of absolute dominance can shade into hubris, a recurring ethical fault-line in the Mahabharata.
In Udyoga Parva’s pre-war buildup, Sanjaya reports a forceful declaration of martial capability: the speaker claims he can single-handedly subdue the kings assembled by Duryodhana and even check famed champions like Bhishma, Drona, Kripa, Karna, Ashvatthama, and Shalya—using vivid similes of the Timi fish and the shoreline restraining the sea.