Shloka 91
Chapter 23: Śakuni Reports, Kaurava Advance, and Arjuna’s Penetration of the Host
एवमन्योन्यमायत्ता योधा जष्नुर्महाहवे । पितृन् भ्रातृन् वयस्यांश्व पुत्रानपि तथा परे
evam anyonyam āyattā yodhā jajñur mahāhave | pitṝn bhrātṝn vayasyāṁś ca putrān api tathā pare ||
Sañjaya dit : « Ainsi, dans cette grande bataille, les guerriers—chacun résolu à triompher de l’autre—se ruèrent les uns sur les autres, et, tandis que les deux camps poussaient en avant, ils en vinrent même à tuer des pères, des frères, des amis du même âge, et jusqu’à leurs propres fils. »
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the moral catastrophe of war: when victory becomes the sole aim, social and familial bonds collapse, leading to the killing of one’s own kin—an implicit warning about how adharma spreads through unchecked hostility and rivalry.
Sanjaya describes the battlefield condition where combatants on both sides, mutually bent on defeating each other, engage so fiercely that they end up slaying even fathers, brothers, peers, and sons—highlighting the internecine nature of the Kurukṣetra war.