Shloka 17
निहता: पुरुषेन्द्रेण तच्चापि विदितं तव । 'पुरुषश्रेष्ठ अर्जुनने उस समय यक्ष, नाग, दैत्य तथा दूसरे भी जो बलका घमंड रखनेवाले वीर थे, उन सबको मार डाला था। यह बात तुम्हें मालूम ही है ।। गन्धर्वा घोषयात्रायां चित्रसेनादयो जिता:
nihatāḥ puruṣendreṇa taccāpi viditaṃ tava | gandharvā ghoṣayātrāyāṃ citrasenādayo jitāḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “Those mighty ones were slain by the best of men; and this too is already known to you. In the episode of the Ghoṣa-yātrā, the Gandharvas—Citraseṇa and the others—were overcome.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how a warrior’s established deeds and reputation function as moral and strategic evidence in later crises: past victories are recalled to affirm capability, inspire confidence, and frame present events within a remembered ethical-historical record.
Sañjaya reminds Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the hero had already slain powerful opponents, and that Dhṛtarāṣṭra knows this. He cites the earlier Ghoṣa-yātrā episode, where Citraseṇa and other Gandharvas were defeated, as a precedent for the hero’s prowess.