Shloka 54
Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 95 — Sātyaki’s Breakthrough and the Routing of Allied Contingents
प्राहिणोन्मृत्युलोकाय क्षत्रियान् क्षत्रियर्षभ: । क्षत्रियशिरोमणि अर्जुनने वहाँ छः: हजार घुड़सवारों तथा एक हजार श्रेष्ठ शूरवीर क्षत्रियोंको मृत्युके लोकमें भेज दिया |। ५३ ई |। शरै: सहस््रशो विद्धा विधिवत्कल्पिता द्विपा:
sañjaya uvāca |
prāhiṇon mṛtyulokāya kṣatriyān kṣatriyarṣabhaḥ |
Sañjaya dit : «Le taureau parmi les kṣatriya envoya les guerriers kṣatriya au royaume de la Mort — image qui fait du champ de bataille non une simple victoire, mais le lourd prix moral du devoir kṣatriya accompli par une force meurtrière.»
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the tension within kṣatriya-dharma: a warrior’s duty may demand lethal action, yet the narration deliberately names its consequence—sending men to the realm of Death—underscoring the ethical weight of battlefield duty.
Sañjaya reports that a foremost kṣatriya (contextually a leading Pandava warrior, often Arjuna in this section) is cutting down opposing kṣatriyas in large numbers, described poetically as dispatching them to Mṛtyuloka.