Shloka 26
अभिमन्युना दुःशासनस्य ताडनम्
Abhimanyu’s Rebuke and Wounding of Duḥśāsana; Karṇa’s Counter-volley
तस्मादस्मिन् हते शत्रौ हता: सर्वेडहितास्तव । शिवेन मां ध्याहि राजन्नेष हन्मि रिपूंस्तव,“अतः इस अपने शत्रु अभिमन्युके मारे जानेपर आपके सारे दुश्मन स्वतः नष्ट हो जायँगे। राजन्! आप मेरा कल्याण मनाइये। मैं अभी आपके शत्रुओंका नाश किये देता हूँ!
tasmād asmin hate śatrau hatāḥ sarve 'dhitās tava | śivena māṃ dhyāhi rājann eṣa hanmi ripūṃs tava ||
Sañjaya said: “Therefore, when this enemy is slain, all those who oppose you will be as good as destroyed. O King, think of my welfare and auspiciousness; even now I shall strike down your foes.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the psychology of war: confidence and reassurance are offered to a ruler by linking one decisive death to the collapse of opposition. Ethically, it shows how violence is framed as strategic necessity and as a promise of security, even while the broader dharmic tension of the conflict remains unresolved.
Sañjaya addresses Dhṛtarāṣṭra, interpreting the killing of Abhimanyu as a turning point. He claims that with this enemy slain, the rest of Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s opponents will effectively be finished, and he urges the king to wish him well as he declares readiness to destroy the remaining foes.