Shloka 11
न्यस्तशस्त्रस्तु संग्रामे शक््यो हन्तुं भवेन्नृभि: । आस्थीयतां जये योगो धर्ममुत्सृज्य पाण्डवा:
nyastaśastras tu saṅgrāme śakyo hantuṁ bhaven nṛbhiḥ | āsthīyatāṁ jaye yogo dharmam utsṛjya pāṇḍavāḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “In battle, a man who has laid down his weapons can indeed be slain by warriors. Therefore, O Pāṇḍavas, take up the means to victory—casting aside dharma.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a harsh wartime ethic: once a fighter is disarmed, he becomes vulnerable and can be killed; it frames victory as something that may be pursued even by setting aside dharma, thereby exposing the tension between moral law and battlefield expediency.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra a counsel or sentiment arising amid the Drona-parvan fighting: the Pāṇḍavas are urged toward a victory-oriented stratagem, even if it requires abandoning righteous norms, reflecting the escalating ruthlessness of the war.