Shloka 31
Bhagadattā’s Deployment Against Ghaṭotkaca; Elephant-Corps Escalation
ततो दुर्योधनो राजा भ्रातृव्यसनकर्शित: । अबवीत् तावकान् योधान् भीमो<यं युधि वध्यताम्,भाइयोंके मरनेसे राजा दुर्योधनको बड़ा कष्ट हुआ। अतः उसने आपके समस्त सैनिकोंको आज्ञा दी कि इस भीमसेनको युद्धमें मार डालो
tato duryodhano rājā bhrātṛvyasana-karśitaḥ | abravīt tāvakān yodhān bhīmo 'yaṃ yudhi vadhyatām ||
Then King Duryodhana, tormented by the calamity that had befallen his brothers, addressed your warriors: “This Bhīma—let him be slain in battle.” The verse highlights how grief and attachment can harden into vengeful resolve, turning personal loss into a command for intensified violence on the battlefield.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse shows how sorrow over kin-loss can quickly become anger and retaliation, influencing a leader’s decisions. Ethically, it warns that grief-driven commands may intensify adharma-like violence by reducing a complex conflict to a single-minded call for killing.
Sañjaya reports that Duryodhana, distressed by the deaths or ruin of his brothers, addresses the Kaurava fighters and orders them to kill Bhīma on the battlefield.