Shloka 31
Adhyāya 6: Śibira-dvāra-sthita Bhūta-varṇana and Aśvatthāmā’s Śaraṇāgati to Mahādeva
तस्या: फलमिदं घोर प्रतिघाताय कल्पते । तदिदं दैवविहितं मम संख्ये निवर्तनम्
tasyāḥ phalam idaṃ ghoraṃ pratighātāya kalpate | tad idaṃ daivavihitaṃ mama saṅkhye nivartanam ||
Sañjaya dit : «Voici le fruit terrible de cette voie égarée ; il est revenu frapper en une rétribution effroyable. Ainsi, mon retrait du combat a été décrété par le destin lui-même.»
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Actions driven by impure or unrighteous intent ripen into fearful consequences; what appears as a sudden reversal in war can be understood as the ordained fruition (phala) of prior moral deviation, framed as fate (daiva) bringing retribution (pratighāta).
Sañjaya comments that a dreadful outcome has manifested as a counter-blow, and he interprets his turning back from the battlefield as something determined by divine dispensation—an inevitable consequence unfolding within the war’s moral causality.