Shloka 19
शपे<हं कृष्णचरणैरिष्टपूर्तेन चैव ह । यदि त्वां ससुतं पाप॑ं न हन्यां युधि रोषित:,“मैं श्रीकृष्णके चरणों तथा अपने इष्टापूर्तकर्मोकी शपथ खाकर कहता हूँ कि यदि मैं युद्धमें क्ुद्ध होकर तुम-जैसे पापीको पुत्रोंसहित न मार डालूँ तो मुझे उत्तम गति न मिले 'टद्रोणपुत्र!! खड़ा रह, खड़ा रह, तू मेरे हाथसे छूटकर जीवित नहीं जा सकेगा। आज इस रणांगणमें मैं तेरा युद्धका हौसला मिटा दूँगा”
śape ’haṃ kṛṣṇa-caraṇair iṣṭa-pūrtena caiva ha | yadi tvāṃ sa-sutaṃ pāpaṃ na hanyāṃ yudhi roṣitaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “I swear by the feet of Kṛṣṇa, and by the merit of my sacrifices and acts of public beneficence: if, enraged in battle, I do not slay you—sinful as you are—together with your sons, then may I not attain the highest state.” The oath frames vengeance as a moral necessity in the speaker’s mind, invoking devotion to Kṛṣṇa and the ethical capital of religious and charitable deeds to sanction a violent resolve within the brutal logic of war.
सयजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how, in the Mahābhārata’s war-ethic, intense personal resolve is legitimized through sacred oaths: devotion (invoking Kṛṣṇa’s feet) and accumulated religious/charitable merit (iṣṭa–pūrta) are called as witnesses. It also implicitly warns how anger (roṣa) can appropriate the language of dharma to justify violence.
A warrior (as reported by Sañjaya) makes a solemn vow in the midst of battle: he swears by Kṛṣṇa and by his own pious merits that he will kill his opponent—described as ‘sinful’—along with the opponent’s sons, declaring that failure would forfeit his highest spiritual good.