Shloka 48
Bhagadatta’s Advance, the Saṃśaptaka Challenge, and Arjuna’s Counterstrike (द्रोणपर्व, अध्याय २६)
तेषां प्रद्रवतां भीम: पज्चालानामितस्तत:
teṣāṁ pradravatāṁ bhīmaḥ pāñcālānām itas tataḥ
Sañjaya said: As the Pāñcālas fled in confusion, Bhīma moved about here and there among them, pressing the rout and intensifying the panic of the retreat—an image of how, in war, fear can spread through a force once its order breaks.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a practical ethical insight of the epic’s war narrative: once discipline collapses, fear multiplies and a retreat can become a rout; therefore leaders and warriors must preserve steadiness and order, since panic harms not only the individual but the whole host.
Sañjaya reports that the Pāñcālas are fleeing, and Bhīma is moving “here and there” among them—suggesting vigorous pursuit and battlefield pressure during a moment of disarray.