Shloka 10

Devanagari script

तेषां संलोड्यमानानां पाण्डवै्हतचेतसाम्‌ । अन्धे तमसि मग्नानामभवत्‌ का मतिस्तदा,जब पाण्डवोंने उन सबको मथकर अचेत कर दिया और वे घोर अन्धकारमें डूब गये, तब मेरे उन सैनिकोंने क्या विचार किया?

Transliteration

teṣāṁ saṁloḍyamānānāṁ pāṇḍavair hata-cetasām | andhe tamasi magnānām abhavat kā matis tadā ||

Translation

Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “When those of my men were being violently thrown into confusion by the Pāṇḍavas, their senses shattered, and when they sank into blinding darkness, what resolve or thought arose in them at that moment?”

Word by Word

तेषाम्of those

संलोड्यमानानाम्of (them) being churned/violently shaken

पाण्डवैःby the Pāṇḍavas

हतचेतसाम्of those whose senses/minds were struck down (stupefied)

अन्धेin blind

तमसिdarkness

मग्नानाम्of (them) sunk/immersed

अभवत्was/occurred

काwhat (kind of)

मतिःthought/resolve

तदाthen

Speaker

धृतराष्ट उवाच

Characters & Entities

Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Pāṇḍavas

Kaurava soldiers (Dhṛtarāṣṭra's troops)

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 how, in war, fear and disorientation can eclipse judgment; it implicitly raises an ethical question about leadership—when troops are driven into panic and ‘darkness,’ what counsel or steadiness remains, and who bears responsibility for that collapse.

What is happening in the narrative?

Dhṛtarāṣṭra asks what his soldiers thought or decided when the Pāṇḍavas overwhelmed them—shaking their formations, stunning their minds, and plunging them into a state described as ‘blind darkness,’ i.e., extreme confusion and despair.