Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 24
Śalya Installed as Commander; Coalition Agreement and Battle Arrays (शल्यसेनापत्यारोहणं व्यूहवर्णनं च)
सैन्यस्य तव त॑ शब्दं श्रुत्वा राजा युधिष्ठिर: । वार्ष्णेयमब्रवीद् वाक््यं सर्वक्षत्रस्य पश्यत:
sainyasya tava taṁ śabdaṁ śrutvā rājā yudhiṣṭhiraḥ | vārṣṇeyam abravīd vākyaṁ sarvakṣatrasya paśyataḥ || iti satyaṁ bravīmy eṣa duryodhana na saṁśayaḥ |
आपकी सेना का वह महान् हर्षनाद सुनकर राजा युधिष्ठिर ने समस्त क्षत्रियों के देखते-देखते वार्ष्णेय श्रीकृष्ण से ये वचन कहे।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights that in war, words and vows are not private; they are weighed publicly before the kṣatriya community. Truth-claims (satya) and confidence (na saṁśayaḥ) become ethical commitments, and leadership is judged not only by strength but by the integrity and consequences of one’s declarations.
Sañjaya reports that Yudhiṣṭhira hears the loud exultant roar of the Kaurava army. In response, and in the sight of all the warriors, he turns to Kṛṣṇa (called Vārṣṇeya) and speaks—setting up the next exchange in which Yudhiṣṭhira reacts to the enemy’s confidence and the battlefield’s shifting morale.
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