Shloka 23
अर्जुनस्य गुरुधर्मविलापः तथा शैनेयकर्णयोर्युद्धारम्भः | Arjuna’s Lament on Guru-Dharma and the Opening of the Sātyaki–Karṇa Duel
मेघजालनिभ सैन्यं तव पुत्रस्य मारिष । प्रत्यगृह्नाच्छिने: पौत्र: शरैराशीविषोपमै:,माननीय नरेश! शिनिपौत्र सात्यकिने अपने विषधर सर्पके समान भयंकर बाणोंद्वारा मेघोंकी घटाके समान प्रतीत होनवाली आपके पुत्रकी सेनाका अकेले ही सामना किया
meghajālanibhaṃ sainyaṃ tava putrasya māriṣa | pratyagṛhṇāc chineḥ pautraḥ śarair āśīviṣopamaiḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “O venerable one, the grandson of Śini—Sātyaki—single-handedly withstood the army of your son, which looked like a mass of storm-clouds, striking it with arrows as dreadful as venomous serpents.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights kṣatriya-dharma in its battlefield form: steadfast resistance against overwhelming force, where courage and resolve are praised even amid the destructive ethics of war.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Sātyaki, the grandson of Śini, confronts and holds back Duryodhana’s vast army alone, using fierce, serpent-like arrows; the army is likened to a dense mass of clouds.