Shloka 47
भीष्मरथाभिमुख्यं — Arjuna’s advance with Śikhaṇḍin; Duḥśāsana’s interception
एतस्मात् कारणाद् घोरो वर्तते स्वजनक्षय: । दैवाद् वा पुरुषव्याप्र तव चापनयान्नूप
etasmāt kāraṇād ghoro vartate svajanakṣayaḥ | daivād vā puruṣavyāghra tava cāpanayān nṛpa puruṣasiṁha nareśvara |
Sañjaya dit : «C’est pour cette raison même qu’a lieu une effroyable destruction des siens—soit sous la contrainte du destin, ô tigre parmi les hommes, soit par ta propre voie injuste, ô roi, ô lion parmi les hommes, ô seigneur des hommes.»
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames the catastrophe of war as arising either from daiva (fate) or from human apānaya (wrongful conduct), pressing the ethical point that rulers cannot evade responsibility by appealing to destiny when their own deviation from dharma contributes to mass harm.
Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that a horrific slaughter of their own relatives is unfolding in the war, and he pointedly suggests two possible causes—fate’s drive or the king’s own unjust course—thereby intensifying Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s moral accountability for the conflict.