Shloka 30
अध्याय ४ — दुर्योधनस्य असंधि-निश्चयः
Duryodhana’s Refusal of Reconciliation
क्व नु ते सूतपुत्रो5 भूत् क्व नु द्रोण: सहानुग: । अहं क्व च क्व चात्मा ते हार्दिक्यश्व तथा क्व नु,“उस दिन जयद्रथको अर्जुनके बाणोंका निशाना बनते देखकर भी तुम्हारा कर्ण कहाँ चला गया था? अपने अनुयायियोंके साथ आचार्य द्रोण कहाँ थे? मैं कहाँ था? तुम कहाँ थे? कृतवर्मा कहाँ चले गये थे और भाइयोंसहित तुम्हारा भ्राता दुःशासन भी कहाँ था?
kva nu te sūtaputro 'bhūt kva nu droṇaḥ sahānugaḥ | ahaṃ kva ca kva cātmā te hārdikyaśva tathā kva nu ||
Sañjaya said: “Where, then, was your charioteer-born son Karṇa? Where was Droṇa with his followers? Where was I, and where were you yourself? And where, indeed, was Hārdikya (Kṛtavarmā)?” (He presses Dhṛtarāṣṭra with a moral reproach: even while Jayadratha was being targeted by Arjuna’s arrows, the Kaurava leaders—who bore responsibility for protecting their ally and upholding their pledged duty in war—were absent or ineffective.)
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores accountability in leadership and the ethical weight of pledged duty in war: when a critical moment arises, commanders and allies must be present and effective; absence becomes a moral failure, not merely a tactical one.
Sañjaya, reporting to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, sharply asks where key Kaurava champions—Karṇa, Droṇa, and Kṛtavarmā—were at a decisive time (evoked in the accompanying context as Jayadratha being targeted by Arjuna), implying that their nonappearance or inaction contributed to the Kauravas’ setback.