Shloka 11
Daitya-āśvāsana of Duryodhana; Karṇa’s assurance and the mobilization of the Kaurava host
अथवा सायुधा वीरा मन्युनाभिपरिप्लुता: । सहिता बद्धनिस्त्रिंशा दहेयु: शस्त्रतेजसा
athavā sāyudhā vīrā manyunābhipariplutāḥ | sahitā baddha-nistriṁśā daheyuḥ śastra-tejasā ||
Or else, those heroes—armed and overwhelmed by wrath—might, united together with their swords drawn, burn everything down by the blazing power of their weapons.
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse warns that anger, when combined with weapons and collective resolve, quickly becomes catastrophic. Ethical strength in a warrior culture is not only valor but restraint—otherwise power turns into indiscriminate harm.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra voices apprehension about armed heroes who, seized by rage and acting together with drawn swords, could unleash destructive violence—an expression of fear about escalation and loss of control in conflict.