Shloka 26
Ghaṭotkaca Slays Alāyudha (Night Battle and Māyā Countermeasures) / घटोत्कचेन अलायुधवधः
मज्जन्तमिव चात्मानं धृष्टद्युम्नस्य किल्बिषे | पश्याम्यहत्वा पज्चालान् सह तेन शिखण्डिना,मैं धृष्टद्यमम और शिखण्डीसहित समस्त पांचालोंका वध न करके अपने-आपको धृष्टद्युम्नके पापपूर्ण संकल्पमें डूबता-सा देख रहा हूँ
sañjaya uvāca | majjantam iva cātmānaṃ dhṛṣṭadyumnasya kilbiṣe | paśyāmy ahatvā pāñcālān saha tena śikhaṇḍinā ||
Sañjaya said: “I see myself as though sinking into the sinful resolve of Dhṛṣṭadyumna—because I have not slain the Pāñcālas, along with him and Śikhaṇḍin.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames war-action in moral terms: failing to counter a perceived wrongful intent (kilbiṣa) can feel like complicity. It highlights the Mahābhārata’s recurring tension between strategic necessity and ethical self-accounting—how one’s inaction may be experienced as participation in adharma.
Sañjaya reports a speaker’s inner state: he feels as if he is being pulled under by Dhṛṣṭadyumna’s ‘sinful resolve,’ because he has not yet killed Dhṛṣṭadyumna and the Pāñcāla forces, including Śikhaṇḍin. The line conveys urgency and moral pressure within the ongoing battle context of Droṇa Parva.