Śalya Installed as Commander; Coalition Agreement and Battle Arrays (शल्यसेनापत्यारोहणं व्यूहवर्णनं च)
केशवे तु तदा याते धर्मपुत्रो युधिष्ठिर: । विसृज्य सर्वान् भ्रातृश्व पज्चालानथ सोमकान्,इति सत्य ब्रवीम्येष दुर्योधन न संशय: । “मैं रणभूमिमें कुन्तीके सभी पुत्रों और सामने आये हुए सोमकोंपर भी विजय प्राप्त कर लूँगा। इसमें भी संदेह नहीं कि मैं तुम्हारा सेनापति होऊँगा और ऐसे व्यूहका निर्माण करूँगा, जिसे शत्रु लाँघ नहीं सकेंगे। दुर्योधन! यह मैं तुमसे सच्ची बात कहता हूँ। इसमें कोई संशय नहीं है”
keśave tu tadā yāte dharmaputro yudhiṣṭhiraḥ | visṛjya sarvān bhrātṝṃś ca pāñcālān atha somakān | iti satyaṃ bravīmy eṣa duryodhana na saṃśayaḥ |
Sañjaya said: When Keśava had departed at that time, Dharmaputra Yudhiṣṭhira—having dismissed all his brothers, and the Pāñcālas and then the Somakas—spoke these words to Duryodhana in truth and without doubt. He declared that he would win victory on the battlefield even over all the sons of Kuntī and the Somakas who had come forward, and that he would become Duryodhana’s commander, forming a battle-array that the enemy could not overstep. Thus, he affirmed, he was speaking the plain truth, with no uncertainty.
संजय उवाच