Shloka 23
व्यावृत्तेडर्यम्णि राजेन्द्र पतिते जाह्नवीसुते । अमर्षवशमापन्ना: कालोपहतचेतस:,मोहात् तव सपुत्रस्य वधाच्छान्तनवस्थ च । कौरव्या मृत्युसाद्धूता: सहिता: सर्वराजभि: पुत्रसहित आपके मोह (अविवेक)-से और शान्तनुनन्दन भीष्मका वध हो जानेसे समस्त राजाओंसहित सम्पूर्ण कुरुवंशी मृत्युके अधीन हो गये हैं
sañjaya uvāca |
vyāvṛtte ’ryamṇi rājendra patite jāhnavīsute |
amarṣavaśam āpannāḥ kālopahatacetasaḥ |
mohāt tava saputrasya vadhāc chāntanavasya ca |
kauravyā mṛtyusāddhūtāḥ sahitāḥ sarvarājabhiḥ ||
Sanjaya said: “O king, when the day had turned and the son of the Jāhnavī (Bhīṣma) had fallen, the Kauravas—overpowered by resentment and with their minds struck down by the force of Time—became, through delusion arising from your son’s course and through the slaying of Śāntanu’s descendant, as though swept into the grasp of Death, even while joined by all the allied kings.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames the Kauravas’ crisis as a moral-psychological collapse: resentment (amarṣa) and delusion (moha) cloud judgment, while Kāla (Time) asserts inevitability. It implicitly critiques leadership driven by attachment and anger, showing how such states make even powerful coalitions ‘fall under Death’s dominion’—a warning about ethical discernment in governance and war.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that after Bhīṣma—son of Gaṅgā and descendant of Śāntanu—has fallen, the Kaurava side, despite being supported by many kings, is mentally shaken. Their morale and clarity are broken, and they appear as if being carried toward destruction.