Shloka 37
Droṇa’s Rebuke to Duryodhana after Jayadratha’s Fall (द्रोणेन दुर्योधनं प्रति प्रत्युक्तिः)
ततो युधिष्िरो राजा भल्लाभ्यामच्छिनद् धनु:
tato yudhiṣṭhiro rājā bhallābhyām acchinad dhanuḥ
Sañjaya said: Then King Yudhiṣṭhira, acting with the resolve expected of a righteous ruler amid the pressures of war, severed the enemy’s bow with two sharp bhalla arrows—an act meant to check violence by disarming rather than merely destroying.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even in war, dharma can express itself as restraint and proportionality: disabling an opponent’s capacity to harm (by cutting the bow) can be a more ethically controlled response than indiscriminate killing, aligning royal duty with measured force.
Sañjaya reports that Yudhiṣṭhira strikes with two bhalla arrows and severs a bow—an episode of battlefield skill and tactics where disarmament shifts the immediate balance of combat.