Shloka 2
Jayadratha-rakṣā: Conch Signals and Encirclement of Arjuna
Chapter 79
हा पुत्र मम मन्दाया: कथमेत्यासि संयुगे | निधन प्राप्तवांस्तात पितुस्तुल्यपराक्रम:,हा पुत्र! हा बेटा अभिमन्यु! तुम मुझ अभागिनीके गर्भमें आकर क्रमश: पिताके तुल्य पराक्रमी होकर युद्धमें मारे कैसे गये?
hā putra mama mandāyāḥ katham etyāsi saṁyuge | nidhanaṁ prāptavāṁs tāta pituḥ-tulya-parākramaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “Alas, my son—born of me, a wretched woman—how did you come to the battlefield? O dear child, possessing valor equal to your father’s, how did you meet your death in war?”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethical cost of war: even the most dharmic and heroic lineage cannot shield one from mortality and sorrow. It highlights how grief personalizes the battlefield, turning public duty into private loss, and invites reflection on the limits of valor when confronted with fate and the consequences of conflict.
A lament is voiced over Abhimanyu’s death: the speaker mourns that a son, equal in prowess to his father, entered the battle and was slain. The tone is elegiac, emphasizing maternal (or parental) anguish and the tragic outcome of a young warrior’s participation in the war.