Shloka 26
Śalya-hatānantarāṇi: Madrarāja-padānugānāṃ praskandana and the Pandava counter-encirclement (शल्यहतानन्तराणि—मद्रराजपदानुगानां प्रस्कन्दनम्)
(यददभुतं कर्म न शक््यमन्यै: सुदुःसहं तत् कृतवन्तमेकम् । शल्यं नरेन्द्रस्य विषण्णभावाद् विचिन्तयामास मृदड़केतु: ।।
sañjaya uvāca | yad adbhutaṃ karma na śakyam anyaiḥ suduḥsahaṃ tat kṛtavantam ekam | śalyaṃ narendrasya viṣaṇṇabhāvād vicintayāmāsa mṛdaṅgaketūḥ || kim etad indrāvarajasya vākyaṃ moghaṃ bhavaty adya vidhibalena | jahīti śalyaṃ hāvadat tad ājau na lokanāthasya vaco 'nyathā syāt ||
Dijo Sañjaya: Al ver que sólo Śalya había consumado una hazaña maravillosa y casi insoportable —algo que ningún otro habría podido hacer—, Yudhiṣṭhira, cuyo estandarte llevaba el emblema de un tambor, cayó en abatimiento y se dijo: «¿Será que hoy, por la fuerza del destino, las palabras de Kṛṣṇa, el hermano menor de Indra, resultarán vanas? En la batalla exhortó con claridad: “Da muerte a Śalya”. La palabra del Señor del mundo no debe tornarse de otro modo».
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a dharmic test under extreme pressure: when events seem to contradict righteous guidance, a leader’s inner steadiness is shaken. Yudhiṣṭhira’s anxiety—whether Kṛṣṇa’s counsel could become ‘mogha’ by fate—shows the ethical tension between trusting wise instruction and confronting the unpredictable force of destiny.
Sañjaya reports that Śalya has achieved a formidable battlefield success against Yudhiṣṭhira, plunging the king into dejection. Yudhiṣṭhira reflects that Kṛṣṇa had urged him to kill Śalya in battle and worries that, due to fate, those words might prove fruitless—an ominous moment of doubt amid the ongoing combat.