Shloka 28
तत् ते5हं कथयिष्यामि यथाश्रुतमरिंदम । भरतश्रेष्ठी आप पाण्डवोंकी विजय और अपनी पराजयका जो कारण पूछते हैं, उसके विषयमें यथार्थ बातें सुनिये। शत्रुदमन! मैंने जैसा सुन रखा है, वह आपको बताऊँगा ।। २७ - दुर्योधनेन सम्पृष्ट एतमर्थ पितामह:,दुर्योधनने यही बात पितामह भीष्मसे पूछी थी। महाराज! युद्धमें अपने समस्त महारथी भाइयोंको पराजित हुआ देख आपके पुत्र कुरुराज दुर्योधनका हृदय शोकसे मोहित हो गया। उसने रातमें महाज्ञानी पितामह भीष्मके पास विनयपूर्वक जाकर जो कुछ पूछा था, वह बताता हूँ, मुझसे सुनिये
tatte 'haṃ kathayiṣyāmi yathāśrutam ariṃdama | bharataśreṣṭha yāṃ pṛcchasi pāṇḍavānāṃ jayaṃ ca tava parājayasya ca kāraṇam | yathāśrutam eva te vakṣyāmi || duryodhanena sampṛṣṭa etam arthaṃ pitāmahaḥ |
Sañjaya said: “I shall tell you exactly as I have heard it, O subduer of foes. O best of the Bharatas, listen to the true account of what you ask—the cause of the Pāṇḍavas’ victory and of your defeat. I will relate it to you just as it was reported. This very matter had been asked by Duryodhana of the grandsire Bhīṣma: when he saw all his foremost warriors and brothers being overcome in battle, the Kuru king’s son Duryodhana was overwhelmed by grief. In the night he approached the wise grandsire Bhīṣma with humility and questioned him; that is what I shall now recount—hear it from me.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage frames victory and defeat as having discernible causes and invites truthful inquiry into those causes. Ethically, it emphasizes accountability in war and governance: outcomes are not merely chance but are tied to conduct, counsel, and the moral-political choices of leaders.
Sañjaya tells Dhṛtarāṣṭra that he will report, as he has heard, the reasons for the Pāṇḍavas’ success and the Kauravas’ failure. He introduces a prior scene: Duryodhana, distressed after seeing his side’s great warriors being overcome, goes at night to Bhīṣma and questions him; Sañjaya is about to recount that exchange.