Shloka 54
Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 95 — Sātyaki’s Breakthrough and the Routing of Allied Contingents
प्राहिणोन्मृत्युलोकाय क्षत्रियान् क्षत्रियर्षभ: । क्षत्रियशिरोमणि अर्जुनने वहाँ छः: हजार घुड़सवारों तथा एक हजार श्रेष्ठ शूरवीर क्षत्रियोंको मृत्युके लोकमें भेज दिया |। ५३ ई |। शरै: सहस््रशो विद्धा विधिवत्कल्पिता द्विपा:
sañjaya uvāca |
prāhiṇon mṛtyulokāya kṣatriyān kṣatriyarṣabhaḥ |
サンジャヤは言った。「刹帝利の中の雄牛たる者は、刹帝利の戦士たちを死の国へと送り込んだ――この光景は、戦場を単なる勝利としてではなく、致命の力によって遂行される刹帝利の義務が負う重い道義的代償として描き出す。」
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the tension within kṣatriya-dharma: a warrior’s duty may demand lethal action, yet the narration deliberately names its consequence—sending men to the realm of Death—underscoring the ethical weight of battlefield duty.
Sañjaya reports that a foremost kṣatriya (contextually a leading Pandava warrior, often Arjuna in this section) is cutting down opposing kṣatriyas in large numbers, described poetically as dispatching them to Mṛtyuloka.