Shloka 38
Adhyāya 36: Ghora-yuddha-varṇanam
A Clinical Description of the Intensified Engagement
प्रथममपि पलायिते त्वयि प्रियकलहा धृतराष्ट्रसूनव: । स्मरसि ननु यदा प्रमोचिता: खचरगणानवजित्य पाण्डवै:
prathamam api palāyite tvayi priyakalahā dhṛtarāṣṭrasūnavaḥ | smarasi nanu yadā pramocitāḥ khacaragaṇān avajitya pāṇḍavaiḥ ||
Bahkan lebih dahulu, ketika engkau yang pertama lari—apakah engkau ingat bagaimana putra-putra Dhṛtarāṣṭra yang gemar bertikai itu dibebaskan, setelah para Pāṇḍava menaklukkan rombongan Gandharva yang mengembara di angkasa? Sungguhkah semua itu masih kauingat?
शल्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Śalya invokes a past humiliation to press an ethical point: one who boasts of valor should remember prior failures and the debt owed to others. The verse underscores accountability, the danger of quarrelsome pride, and the expectation that a kṣatriya’s honor rests on steadiness and truthful self-assessment.
In the Karṇa Parva, Śalya (serving as Karṇa’s charioteer) repeatedly needles and demoralizes him. Here he reminds Karṇa that on an earlier occasion Karṇa fled first, while the Pāṇḍavas defeated the Gandharvas and thereby secured the release of Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s sons—an episode used to shame Karṇa and expose Kaurava dependence on the Pāṇḍavas.