Shloka 22
Book 10, Adhyāya 12: Aśvatthāmā’s Request for the Cakra and the Brahmaśiras Context
न चैनमशकत् स्थानात् संचालयितुमप्युत । अथैनं दक्षिणेनापि गृहीतुमुपचक्रमे,“परंतु वह उसे अपनी जगहसे हिला भी न सका। तब उसने उसे दाहिने हाथसे उठानेका प्रयत्न आरम्भ किया
na cainam aśakat sthānāt sañcālayitum apy uta | athainaṃ dakṣiṇenāpi gṛhītum upacakrame ||
Vaiśampāyana said: He could not move him from his place even in the least. Then he began to attempt to seize and lift him with his right hand as well—revealing both the stubborn immovability of the one confronted and the aggressor’s escalating resolve to forcefully act when persuasion or simple effort fails.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the futility of brute force against what is firmly established, and how frustration can lead an agent to escalate coercion. In the Sauptika context, it underscores the ethical deterioration after the war—when restraint fails, violence tends to intensify rather than resolve the underlying moral crisis.
The narrator reports that a figure attempts to dislodge another from his position but cannot move him at all. He then shifts tactics, beginning an effort to grasp and lift him with his right hand—marking a renewed, more forceful attempt after an initial failure.