Shloka 52

Devanagari script

माद्रीपुत्र नकुलने आपके पुत्र दुर्योधनको दाहिने कर दिया और हर्षमें भरकर उसपर सैकड़ों बाणोंकी झड़ी लगा दी; फिर तो वहाँ महान्‌ कोलाहल हुआ ।। अपस्॒व्य॑ कृतं संख्ये भ्रातृव्येनात्यमर्षिणा । नामृष्यत तमप्याजौ प्रतिचक्रेडपसव्यत:

Transliteration

apasavyaṁ kṛtaṁ saṅkhye bhrātṛvyenātyamarṣiṇā | nāmṛṣyata tam apy ājau praticakre ’pasavyatāḥ ||

Translation

Sañjaya said: In the thick of battle, his fierce and unforgiving enemy forced him into an inauspicious (leftward) turn. Unable to endure that affront on the battlefield, he retaliated by making the other also turn left—answering humiliation with a counterstroke amid the code-bound violence of war.

Word by Word

अपसव्यम्leftward/inauspiciously (to the left)

कृतम्done/made

संख्येin battle

भ्रातृव्येनby the enemy/rival

अत्यमर्षिणाby the very intolerant/very wrathful one

नnot

अमृष्यतhe endured/tolerated

तम्him/that (act/person)

अपिalso/even

आजौin battle

प्रतिचक्रेhe turned back/retaliated

अपसव्यतःfrom the left side/leftwards

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

bhrātṛvya (enemy/rival)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how, in war, perceived dishonour provokes immediate retaliation; it implicitly questions the ethical spiral where affront and counter-affront replace restraint, even within a dharma-framed battlefield.

What is happening in the narrative?

During combat, an enemy forces a warrior into an inauspicious leftward turn (apasavya). The warrior cannot bear it and responds by turning the opponent leftward in return—an act of countering humiliation with a matching manoeuvre.