Shloka 2

अध्याय १४६ — निशायां सात्यकिदुर्योधनयुद्धम् / Chapter 146 — Night Battle: Sātyaki and Duryodhana; Śakuni’s Encirclement of Arjuna

Devanagari script

स कथं कौरवेयेण समरेष्वनिवारिता: । निगृहा भूरिश्रवसा बलाद्‌ भुवि निपातित:,धृतराष्ट्रने पूछा--संजय! जो वीर सात्यकि द्रोण, कर्ण, विकर्ण और कृतवर्मासे भी परास्त न हुए और युधिष्छिरसे की हुई प्रतिज्ञाके अनुसार कौरव-सेनारूपी समुद्रसे पार हो गये, जिन्हें समरांगणमें कोई भी रोक न सका, उन्हींको कुरुवंशी भूरिश्रवाने बलपूर्वक पकड़कर कैसे पृथ्वीपर गिरा दिया?

Transliteration

sa kathaṁ kauraveyeṇa samareṣv anivāritāḥ | nigṛhya bhūriśravasā balād bhuvi nipātitaḥ ||

Translation

Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “How was that warrior—who could not be checked in battle and who had passed through the Kaurava host like a sea—seized by the Kuru prince Bhūriśravas and forcibly thrown down upon the earth?”

Word by Word

सःhe (that one)

कथम्how

कौरवेयेणby the Kaurava-descendant

समरेषुin battles

अनिवारिताःnot prevented, unrestrained

निगृहीतःseized, grasped

भूरिश्रवसाby Bhūriśravas

बलात्by force, forcibly

भुविon the earth/ground

निपातितःthrown down, made to fall

Speaker

धृतराष्ट उवाच

Characters & Entities

Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Bhūriśravas

Kaurava (Kuru lineage)

battlefield (samara)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the unpredictability of war: even an apparently unstoppable hero can be brought down by a single decisive counteraction. It also frames the episode as a question about martial dharma—how force, restraint, and battlefield advantage can overturn prior invincibility.

What is happening in the narrative?

Dhṛtarāṣṭra asks Sañjaya to explain how Bhūriśravas, a Kuru warrior, managed to seize and throw down the otherwise uncheckable fighter (understood in context as Sātyaki), who had cut through the Kaurava ranks.