Shloka 22
(अप्यहं तानि दु:खानि पूर्ववृत्तानि माधव । दुर्योधनं रणे हत्वा प्रतिमोक्ष्ये कथंचन ।।) “श्रीकृष्ण! समरांगणमें दुर्योधनका वध करके मैं किसी प्रकार उन सभी दु:खोंसे छुटकारा पा जाऊँगा, जो पूर्वकालमें भोगने पड़े हैं'। इत्येवंवादिनौ कृष्णौ ह्ृष्टौ श्वेतान् हयोत्तमान् | प्रेषषामासतु: संख्ये प्रेप्सन्ती तं॑ नराधिपम्,इस प्रकारकी बातें करते हुए उन दोनों कृष्णोंने युद्धस्थलमें राजा दुर्योधनको अपना लक्ष्य बनानेके लिये हर्षपूर्वक अपने उत्तम सफेद घोड़ोंको उसकी ओर बढ़ाया
apy ahaṁ tāni duḥkhāni pūrvavṛttāni mādhava | duryodhanaṁ raṇe hatvā pratimokṣye kathaṁcana || ityevaṁvādinau kṛṣṇau hṛṣṭau śvetān hayottamān | preṣayāmāsatuḥ saṅkhye prepsantī taṁ narādhipam ||
Sañjaya said: “O Mādhava, if only I could somehow be freed from those sorrows that have arisen from what has happened before—by slaying Duryodhana in battle.” Speaking thus, the two Kṛṣṇas—gladdened—urged on their excellent white horses in the thick of combat, fixing that king, Duryodhana, as their intended target. The passage frames the warrior’s longing to end accumulated grief through a decisive act in war, while also highlighting how personal suffering and the ethics of vengeance become entangled on the battlefield.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how past suffering (pūrvavṛtta-duḥkha) can fuel a desire for decisive, even violent, resolution. Ethically, it invites reflection on whether liberation from grief comes from external victory (slaying an enemy) or from inner clarity and dharmic restraint—an important tension throughout the Mahābhārata’s war narrative.
In the midst of battle, a speaker expresses the wish to end earlier sorrows by killing Duryodhana. Immediately after, the narrative describes Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna (the ‘two Kṛṣṇas’) joyfully driving their white horses forward, aiming their chariot toward Duryodhana as their battlefield objective.