Shloka 193
तानन्ये समरे योधा: प्रेषयन्तो यमक्षयम् | नरेश्वर! नींदसे बेसुध होनेके कारण वे किसी भी चेष्टाको समझ नहीं पाते थे और उन्हें दूसरे योद्धा समरांगणमें यमलोक भेज देते थे
sañjaya uvāca | tān anye samare yodhāḥ preṣayanto yamakṣayam |
Sañjaya said: In that battle, other warriors, striking them down, were sending those men to Yama’s imperishable realm. O king, because they were overcome by sleep and had become senseless, they could not comprehend any movement or countermeasure; thus they were dispatched from the field by opposing fighters. The passage underscores the grim ethics of war: negligence and loss of awareness in combat swiftly become the cause of death, and the battlefield shows little mercy to the unprepared.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the harsh moral reality of warfare: loss of alertness and discernment (here, being overcome by sleep and senselessness) makes one vulnerable, and in battle such weakness is swiftly punished. It implicitly values vigilance and readiness as part of kṣatriya conduct.
Sañjaya describes a moment in the fighting where some combatants, rendered helpless and unable to respond, are cut down by other warriors and thus ‘sent’ to Yama’s realm—an idiom for being killed on the battlefield.