Shloka 18
तौ हि संजय दुःखार्तो विज्ञाप्यौ वचनाद्धि मे । इष्टं भृत्या भृता: सम्यग् भू: प्रशास्ता ससागरा
tau hi sañjaya duḥkhārto vijñāpyau vacanād dhi me | iṣṭaṃ bhṛtyā bhṛtāḥ samyag bhūḥ praśāstā sasāgarā ||
Sañjaya dit : «Ô Sañjaya, ces deux-là — mes parents — seront assurément accablés de chagrin en apprenant ma mort. Aussi, à ma demande, dois-tu leur porter ce message : que j’ai dûment accompli les sacrifices prescrits, que j’ai entretenu comme il se doit ceux qui dépendaient de moi, et que j’ai bien gouverné la terre, jusqu’à l’océan qui l’enserre.»
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even amid the certainty of death in war, one’s moral accounting is framed through dharma: performing prescribed rites, protecting dependents, and ruling justly. The verse presents ethical kingship and responsibility to others as the measure of a life’s worth.
The speaker anticipates that his parents will be devastated upon hearing of his death and instructs Sanjaya to deliver a consoling report: that he fulfilled sacrificial duties, cared for those under his protection, and governed the realm properly to its farthest limits.