Shloka 38
Adhyāya 36: Ghora-yuddha-varṇanam
A Clinical Description of the Intensified Engagement
प्रथममपि पलायिते त्वयि प्रियकलहा धृतराष्ट्रसूनव: । स्मरसि ननु यदा प्रमोचिता: खचरगणानवजित्य पाण्डवै:
prathamam api palāyite tvayi priyakalahā dhṛtarāṣṭrasūnavaḥ | smarasi nanu yadā pramocitāḥ khacaragaṇān avajitya pāṇḍavaiḥ ||
「さらに以前――おまえが真っ先に逃げたとき――争いを好むドリタラーシュトラの子らが、天空を駆けるガンダルヴァの群れをパーンダヴァたちが打ち破ったのち、いかにして解き放たれたか、覚えているか。おまえは本当にあの出来事を覚えているのか。」
शल्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Śalya invokes a past humiliation to press an ethical point: one who boasts of valor should remember prior failures and the debt owed to others. The verse underscores accountability, the danger of quarrelsome pride, and the expectation that a kṣatriya’s honor rests on steadiness and truthful self-assessment.
In the Karṇa Parva, Śalya (serving as Karṇa’s charioteer) repeatedly needles and demoralizes him. Here he reminds Karṇa that on an earlier occasion Karṇa fled first, while the Pāṇḍavas defeated the Gandharvas and thereby secured the release of Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s sons—an episode used to shame Karṇa and expose Kaurava dependence on the Pāṇḍavas.