Shloka 31
धृष्टद्युम्नस्य द्रोणाभिमुख्यं तथा सात्यकि-कर्ण-समागमः
Dhṛṣṭadyumna’s advance toward Droṇa and the Sātyaki–Karṇa confrontation
यदिच्छसि शिरश्नलास्य असिना हन्तुमाहवे | तथा कृच्छूगतं चैव सात्यकिं क: क्षमिष्यति,इसलिये तुम युद्धस्थलमें तलवारसे उसका सिर काट लेना चाहते थे। सात्यकिको वैसे संकटमें देखकर मेरे पक्षका कौन वीर सहन करेगा?
yad icchasi śiraś chindituṁ asiṇā hantum āhave | tathā kṛcchragataṁ caiva sātyakiṁ kaḥ kṣamiṣyati ||
Arjuna said: “If you truly wished to strike him down in battle with your sword and sever his head, then who among our warriors could bear to see Sātyaki brought into such peril? Seeing him in distress would be intolerable for our side.”
अर्जुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even amid righteous warfare, a warrior’s duty is shaped by responsibility toward allies: Arjuna frames the issue not as personal vengeance but as the moral and emotional impossibility of abandoning or calmly witnessing a comrade (Sātyaki) in extreme danger.
Arjuna addresses a battlefield decision: he refers to the intention to behead an opponent with a sword, and immediately connects it to the urgent predicament of Sātyaki—implying that the Pāṇḍava side cannot tolerate Sātyaki being trapped in peril and must respond decisively.