Shloka 21
Book 10, Adhyāya 12: Aśvatthāmā’s Request for the Cakra and the Brahmaśiras Context
“मैंने भी कह दिया--'ले लो चक्र," मेरे इतना कहते ही उसने सहसा उछलकर बायें हाथसे चक्रको पकड़ लिया
vaiśampāyana uvāca— mayāpi uktam— “gṛhāṇa cakram” iti; mama etāvat uktamātre sa sahasā utplutya vāma-hastena cakraṃ jagrāha.
Vaiśampāyana said: “I too said, ‘Take the discus.’ The moment I had spoken those words, he sprang up at once and seized the discus with his left hand.” The scene underscores how, in the charged aftermath of war, a single utterance can trigger immediate, decisive action—raising questions of restraint, intent, and responsibility for what one authorizes by speech.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights the ethical weight of authorization and speech: a brief command can unleash immediate action, so one must consider intention, restraint, and accountability for outcomes set in motion by one’s words.
The narrator reports that he instructed someone to take the discus; instantly, that person leapt up and grabbed the cakra with the left hand, indicating urgency and readiness to act in the tense wartime context.