Shloka 1
Rajo-dhūli-saṃmūḍha-saṅgrāmaḥ
The Dust-Obscured Battle and Mutual Charges
ऑपन--माज छा जि: एकोनपज्चाशत्तमो<ड्ध्याय: शंखका युद्ध, भीष्मका प्रचण्ड पराक्रम तथा प्रथम दिनके युद्धकी समाप्ति धृतराष्ट उवाच श्वैते सेनापतौ तात संग्रामे निहते परै: । किमकुर्वन् महेष्वासा: पञ्चाला: पाण्डवै: सह,धृतराष्ट्रने पूछा--तात! सेनापति श्वेतके शत्रुओंद्वारा युद्धस्थलमें मारे जानेपर महान् धनुर्धर पांचालों और पाण्डवोंने क्या किया?
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca | śvaite senāpatau tāta saṅgrāme nihate paraiḥ | kim akurvan maheṣvāsāḥ pañcālāḥ pāṇḍavaiḥ saha ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “Dear son, when Śveta, the commander, was slain in battle by the enemy, what did the great bowmen—the Pāñcālas together with the Pāṇḍavas—do then?”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical weight of leadership in war: the fall of a commander tests an army’s steadiness, discipline, and adherence to kṣatriya-dharma—responding with resolve rather than panic or vengeance-driven disorder.
After hearing that Śveta, the Pāṇḍava-side commander, has been killed by the opposing forces, Dhṛtarāṣṭra anxiously asks Sañjaya what the Pāñcālas and Pāṇḍavas did next on the battlefield.