Shloka 75
Sauptika Parva, Adhyaya 8 — Dhṛṣṭadyumna-vadha and the Camp’s Nocturnal Rout
जबसे कौरव-पाण्डव सेनाओंका संग्राम आरम्भ हुआ था, तभीसे वे योद्धा कन्यारूपिणी कालरात्रिको और कालरूपधारी अभश्व॒त्थामाको भी देखा करते थे। पहलेसे ही दैवके मारे हुए उन वीरोंका द्रोणपुत्र अश्वत्थामाने पीछे वध किया था। वह अभश्वत्थामा भयानक स्वरसे गर्जना करके समस्त प्राणियोंको भयभीत कर रहा था ।। तदनुस्मृत्य ते वीरा दर्शन पूर्वकालिकम् । इदं तदित्यमन्यन्त दैवेनोपनिपीडिता:,वे दैवपीडित वीरगण पूर्वकालके देखे हुए सपनेको याद करके ऐसा मानने लगे कि “यह वही स्वप्न इस रूपमें सत्य हो रहा है!
tad anusmṛtya te vīrā darśanaṃ pūrvakālikam | idaṃ tad iti manyanta daivenopanipīḍitāḥ ||
Remembering the earlier vision they had seen before, those warriors—already crushed by fate—began to think, “This is that very omen now coming true in this form.” In the grim aftermath of battle, the verse frames their fear as a recognition that destiny has overtaken human effort, and that the violence unfolding is not merely tactical but morally and cosmically fore-shadowed.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how moral collapse in war culminates in a sense of inevitability: when adharma ripens, people experience events as fate already set in motion. It cautions that violence and wrongdoing generate consequences that later appear as unavoidable destiny.
Sañjaya describes warriors recalling a prior ominous vision (like a dream or portent) and recognizing the present horror as its fulfillment. They feel overwhelmed by daiva, interpreting the unfolding destruction as something foreseen and now realized.