Shloka 553
Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 94: Sātyaki–Sudarśana Yuddha (सात्यकि–सुदर्शन युद्ध)
हाहाकारो महांस्तत्र सैन्यानां समजायत । वीर श्रुतायुधका वध करके वह गदा धरतीपर जा गिरी। लौटी हुई उस गदाको और उसके द्वारा मारे गये वीर श्रुतायुधको देखकर वहाँ आपकी सेनाओंमें महान् हाहाकार मच गया
hāhākāro mahāṁs tatra sainyānāṁ samajāyata | vīraṁ śrutāyudhaṁ hatvā kareṇaiva gadā dharitryāṁ nipapāta | nivṛttāṁ tāṁ gadāṁ dṛṣṭvā tena ca nihataṁ vīraṁ śrutāyudhaṁ ca dṛṣṭvā tatra yuṣmākaṁ sainyeṣu mahān hāhākāraḥ samajāyata |
Sañjaya said: There arose a great outcry there among the armies. After the hero Śrutāyudha had been slain, the very mace he held fell from his hand to the earth. Seeing that mace return and seeing the valiant Śrutāyudha struck down by it, a mighty wail of shock and dread spread through your forces—an ominous sign of how violence, once unleashed, can recoil upon its wielder.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The episode underscores a moral pattern often highlighted in the Mahābhārata: violence and pride can rebound upon the doer. The returning mace symbolizes how destructive force, once set in motion, may turn back and become the agent of one’s own downfall, stirring fear and ethical reflection in those who witness it.
Sañjaya reports that Śrutāyudha has been killed, and his mace—after striking him—falls to the ground and is seen as having ‘returned.’ The sight of the weapon’s recoil and the hero’s death triggers a great cry and panic among Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s troops.