Shloka 12
शकुनिवधः — Sahadeva’s Slaying of Śakuni
with Ulūka’s fall
“दुर्योधन समझता है कि “संग्रामभूमिमें तुम्हारी सारी सेनाका संहार करके पाण्डवोंको पराजित कर दूँगा।” इसीलिये वह अत्यन्त उग्र रूप धारण कर रहा है ।।
nihataṁ svabalaṁ dṛṣṭvā pīḍitaṁ cāpi pāṇḍavaiḥ | dhruvam eṣyati saṅgrāme vadhāyaivātmano nṛpaḥ ||
Dijo Sañjaya: Al ver sus propias fuerzas muertas y duramente hostigadas por los Pāṇḍavas, el rey Duryodhana entrará sin duda en el campo de batalla sólo para hallar su propia muerte. Cegado por la ira y el engaño, imagina: «Si aniquilo el ejército enemigo, venceré a los Pāṇḍavas»; pero esa resolución, nacida del orgullo y la desesperación, apresura su ruina.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
When one is driven by pride and anger, even clear signs of loss are reinterpreted as a reason to escalate; such delusion (moha) turns action into self-destruction. The verse highlights how abandoning dharma and sober judgment in war leads not to victory but to inevitable ruin.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Duryodhana, seeing his own army devastated by the Pāṇḍavas, will nonetheless go into the battle—yet this advance is portrayed as a march toward his own death rather than a strategic move toward victory.