Shloka 59
हन्तव्यश्वैव वीरेण नात्र कार्या विचारणा । विहितो हास्य धात्रैव मृत्यु: सात्यकिराहवे,“वीर सात्यकिके द्वारा ही भूरिश्रवा मारे जानेवाले थे। विधाताने युद्धस्थलमें ही सात्यकिको उनकी मृत्यु निश्चित कर दिया था; इसलिये इसमें विचार नहीं करना चाहिये
hantavyaś caiva vīreṇa nātra kāryā vicāraṇā | vihito hāsya dhātraiva mṛtyuḥ sātyakir āhave ||
Sañjaya said: “He was indeed to be slain by the hero; there is no room for deliberation here. For the Creator Himself had already ordained Sātyaki’s death on the battlefield.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a battlefield killing as something already fixed by providence (Dhātṛ), implying that moral hesitation or debate is futile when events are seen as divinely ordained—highlighting the Mahābhārata’s recurring tension between human agency and destiny.
Sañjaya comments on a combat situation involving Sātyaki, asserting that the outcome—Sātyaki’s death in battle—has been predetermined by the cosmic ordainer, and therefore the act of slaying (by a ‘hero’) should not be subjected to further deliberation.