Shloka 2136
Śalya Appointed as Karṇa’s Sārathi; Discourse on Praise, Blame, and Beneficial Counsel (कर्णस्य शल्यसारथ्यं तथा स्तवनिन्दाविचारः)
हार्दिक्यो वारयामास स्मयतन्निव मुहुर्मुहु: । दूसरी ओर समरांगणमें दुर्जय वीर शिखण्डीको, जो भीष्मके लिये मृत्युस्वरूप था, कृतवर्माने बारंबार मुसकराते हुए-से रोका
hārdikyo vārayāmāsa smayatan niva muhur muhuḥ |
Sañjaya dijo: Kṛtavarmā, hijo de Hṛdīka, detenía una y otra vez el avance, como si sonriera repetidamente. En otra parte del campo de batalla seguía conteniendo al héroe inconquistable Śikhaṇḍī—que para Bhīṣma se había vuelto la encarnación misma de la muerte—y así daba forma a la tensión moral de la guerra, donde el destino personal y la contención estratégica chocan.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how, in war, strategic restraint and personal destiny intersect: even a mighty warrior may be checked by another’s deliberate intervention, while certain figures (like Śikhaṇḍī for Bhīṣma) embody the inescapability of karmic consequence.
Sañjaya reports that Kṛtavarmā repeatedly restrains Śikhaṇḍī on the battlefield, as if smiling, preventing him from advancing—Śikhaṇḍī being famed as the one who becomes the decisive cause of Bhīṣma’s downfall.