Shloka 39
स शत्रुर्निहतः संख्ये मया धर्मेण पाण्डव । यथा त्वया हतः शूरो भगदत्त: पितुः सखा,पाण्डुनन्दन! द्रोणाचार्य मेरे शत्रु थे, अतः मैंने युद्धमें धर्मके अनुसार ही उनका वध किया है। ठीक उसी तरह, जैसे तुमने अपने पिताके प्रिय मित्र शूरवीर भगदत्तका वध किया था
sa śatrur nihataḥ saṅkhye mayā dharmeṇa pāṇḍava | yathā tvayā hataḥ śūro bhagadattaḥ pituḥ sakhā pāṇḍunandana ||
Dhṛṣṭadyumna said: “That enemy has been slain by me in battle, O Pāṇḍava, in accordance with dharma. Just so did you, O son of Pāṇḍu, slay the heroic Bhagadatta—your father’s friend.”
धष्टहुम्न उवाच
Educational Q&A
The speaker frames battlefield killing within the rubric of dharma: a warrior’s act is defended as righteous when aligned with accepted norms of kṣatriya conduct, and moral scrutiny is met by appealing to precedent—‘as you did, so did I.’
After Droṇa’s death, Dhṛṣṭadyumna addresses a Pāṇḍava and defends his slaying of Droṇa as dharmic, comparing it to the Pāṇḍava’s earlier killing of Bhagadatta, who is described as a heroic ally and friend of their father.