Shloka 36
कर्णपर्व — चतुर्दशोऽध्यायः
Arjuna’s Suppression of the Saṃśaptakas; Kṛṣṇa’s Strategic Admonition; Battlefield Inventory
तौ शूरौ समरे राजन् परस्परकृतागसौ । परस्परमुदीक्षेतां क्रोधादुद्वृत्य चक्षुषी,राजन! परस्पर अपराध करनेवाले वे दोनों शूरवीर समरांगणमें क्रोधसे आँखें फाड़- फाड़कर एक-दूसरेकी ओर देख रहे थे
tau śūrāv samare rājan parasparakṛtāgasau | parasparam udīkṣetāṁ krodhād udvṛtya cakṣuṣī ||
Sañjaya said: O King, those two heroic warriors—each having wronged the other—stood on the battlefield glaring at one another. In anger they strained their eyes wide, fixing their gaze on the other, as hostility ripened into open combat.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how mutual wrongdoing (āgas) and unchecked anger (krodha) narrow perception and harden hostility. Ethically, it points to the self-reinforcing cycle of offense and retaliation in war: when each side sees itself as wronged and the other as guilty, wrath dominates judgment and reconciliation becomes unlikely.
Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that two opposing heroes on the battlefield, each considering the other an offender, are staring each other down. Their eyes are widened in rage as they prepare to engage, signaling an imminent clash driven by personal animosity as much as martial duty.