Shloka 24
Cakravyūha-saṃkalpaḥ, Saṃśaptaka-āhvānaṃ, Saubhadra-vikrīḍitam
Drona Parva, Adhyāya 32
हा तात हा पुत्र सखे क्वासि तिष्ठ क्व धावसि । प्रहराहर जहोन॑ स्मितक्ष्वेडितगर्जितै:
hā tāta hā putra sakhe kvāsi tiṣṭha kva dhāvasi | prahara-āhara jahona sma mitakṣveḍita-garjitaiḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “Alas, father! Alas, my son! O friend—where are you? Stand! Where do you run? Strike, strike!” Thus they cried out again and again, with restrained yet piercing shouts, with war-cries and roars—voices that reveal both affection and the brutal urgency of battle.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even amid the demands of kṣatriya warfare, human bonds—father, son, friend—surface as cries of grief and urgency. The verse highlights the ethical tension between duty in battle and the natural compassion and attachment that war violently exposes.
Sañjaya reports the battlefield scene: combatants call out to loved ones and comrades—‘Where are you? Stand! Why do you run? Strike!’—their voices mixing lament with commands, expressed through controlled war-whoops and roaring cries.