धृष्टद्युम्नस्य द्रोणरथारोহণं सात्यकेः प्रतिरक्षणं च | Dhrishtadyumna Boards Droṇa’s Chariot; Sātyaki’s Counter-Protection
नूनं स पातितः शेते धरण्यां रुधिरोक्षित:
nūnaṃ sa pātitaḥ śete dharaṇyāṃ rudhirokṣitaḥ
Sañjaya dit : «Sans doute a-t-il été abattu et gît-il à présent sur la terre, baigné de sang—image de la sombre certitude de la guerre, où la vaillance et le destin s’achèvent dans un corps tombé, et où le poids moral de la violence devient indéniable.»
संजय उवाच
The line underscores the stark consequence of violence: in war, certainty replaces speculation when a life is visibly ended. Ethically, it presses the listener to confront the real cost of conflict—bodies on the ground, bloodshed, and the heavy karmic and dharmic burden that accompanies such outcomes.
Sañjaya, reporting the battlefield to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, infers with certainty that a particular warrior has been felled and is now lying on the earth, soaked in blood. The verse functions as a vivid, immediate confirmation of a combatant’s fall amid the ongoing carnage of the Droṇa Parva.