Shloka 12
संजय! तुम पाण्डवोंको तो हर्ष और उत्साहसे युक्त, आगे बढ़नेवाले और संतुष्ट बताते हो और मेरे सैनिकोंको दुःखी एवं युद्धसे विमुख बताया करते हो ।। कथमेषां तदा तत्र पार्थानामपलायिनाम् | प्रकाशमभवद्ू रात्रौ कथं कुरुषु संजय,सूत! युद्धसे पीछे न हटनेवाले इन कुन्तीकुमारोंके दलमें रातके समय कैसे प्रकाश हुआ और कौरवदलमें भी किस प्रकार उजाला सम्भव हुआ?
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca |
sañjaya! tvaṃ pāṇḍavān tu harṣotsāhayuktān abhyudyatān saṃtuṣṭān ca vadāsi, mama sainyān tu duḥkhitān yuddhavimukhān ca varṇayasi ||
katham eṣāṃ tadā tatra pārthānām apalāyinām |
prakāśam abhavad rātrau kathaṃ kuruṣu sañjaya, sūta! ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “Sañjaya, you describe the Pāṇḍavas as filled with joy and ardor—advancing and content—while you portray my troops as distressed and turning away from battle. How, then, at that time and place, did light arise in the night among those Pārthas who do not flee? And how was there illumination among the Kurus as well, O Sañjaya, son of a charioteer?”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how morale and inner resolve shape one’s reading of events: Dhṛtarāṣṭra, anxious and partisan, challenges Sañjaya’s report that the Pāṇḍavas are confident while his own forces are dispirited, and he seeks an explanation for an extraordinary ‘light in the night’—suggesting that omens and psychological states both influence ethical judgment in war.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra interrogates Sañjaya about a nighttime occurrence: despite darkness, some illumination appeared among the steadfast Pāṇḍava forces, and he asks how a similar brightness could occur among the Kuru/Kaurava host. The question frames a report of unusual battlefield conditions or omens during the Drona Parva fighting.