Shloka 11
सूतपुत्रवधार्थाय शस्त्राण्यादाय सर्वश: । प्रययु: कर्णमुद्दिश्य मृत्युं कृत्वा निवर्तनम्,युद्धमें धृष्टद्यम्नको परास्त हुआ देख अमर्षमें भरे हुए वे पांचाल और सोमक महारथी सूतपुत्र कर्णके वधके लिये सब प्रकारके अस्त्र-शस्त्र लेकर मृत्युको ही युद्धसे निवृत्त होनेकी अवधि निश्चित करके उसकी ओर चल दिये
sañjaya uvāca | sūtaputravadhārthāya śastrāṇy ādāya sarvaśaḥ | prayayuḥ karṇam uddiśya mṛtyuṃ kṛtvā nivartanam ||
Sañjaya said: Enraged on seeing Dhṛṣṭadyumna routed in battle, the Pāñcāla and Somaka great chariot-warriors took up every kind of weapon with a grim resolve—counting death itself as the only limit to their withdrawal—and advanced, aiming at Karṇa, the charioteer’s son, intent on his slaying. The verse underscores the war’s hardening of intent: valor becomes inseparable from vengeance, and the fighters bind themselves to a fatalistic ethic of ‘no retreat except in death.’
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a wartime ethic of uncompromising resolve—fighters bind themselves to a vow-like determination where retreat is acceptable only through death. It also shows how anger and revenge can intensify violence, narrowing moral choices to a single destructive aim.
After Dhṛṣṭadyumna is seen defeated, the Pāñcāla and Somaka mahārathas, filled with indignation, arm themselves and march toward Karṇa, targeting him for death and deciding not to withdraw from the fight unless they die.