Shloka 7
Adhyāya 40 (Book 7, Droṇa-parva): Abhimanyu’s Rapid Advance and Battlefield Disruption
स तस्योग्रमधर्मस्य फल प्राप्रुहि दुर्मते,“दुर्मते! तू अपने उस अधर्मका भयंकर फल प्राप्त कर। आज मैं सारी सेनाओंके देखते-देखते अपने बाणोंद्वारा तुझे दण्ड दूँगा। आज मैं युद्धमें उन महात्मा पितरोंके उस क्रोधका बदला चुकाकर उऋण हो जाऊँगा
sa tasyograsya adharmasya phalaṁ prāpnuhi durmate | durmate tvam apy asya adharmasya bhīṣaṇaṁ phalaṁ prāpnuhi | adya sarvāṇāṁ senānāṁ paśyatāṁ mama bāṇair ahaṁ tvāṁ daṇḍayiṣyāmi | adya yuddhe tān mahātmā-pitṝṇāṁ krodhasya pratīkāraṁ kṛtvā ṛṇa-mukto bhaviṣyāmi ||
Sanjaya said: “Reap now the dreadful fruit of that fierce unrighteousness of yours, O wicked-minded one. Before the eyes of all the armies, today I shall punish you with my arrows. Today, in battle, I shall repay the wrath of those great-souled forefathers and become free of that debt.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Adharma inevitably yields a fearful result (phala). The verse frames punishment in war not merely as personal vengeance but as moral requital—discharging an obligation (ṛṇa) to uphold justice and to answer ancestral claims.
In Sanjaya’s report, a warrior addresses an opponent as wicked-minded and declares that, before all the armies, he will punish him with arrows. He presents the act as repaying the anger of noble forefathers and thereby becoming free of a binding debt.