Shloka 23
कृष्णेन अर्जुनस्य प्रोत्साहनम् — Kṛṣṇa’s Exhortation to Arjuna
Prelude to Karṇa’s Slaying
नरास्तु निहता भूमौ कूजन्तस्तत्र मारिष | दृष्टवा च बान्धवानन्ये पितृनन्ये पितामहान्
narāstu nihatā bhūmau kūjantastatra māriṣa | dṛṣṭvā ca bāndhavān anye pitṝn anye pitāmahān |
サञ्जयは語った。「ああ、尊き御方よ。そこ戦場では、討たれて大地に横たわる人々が、苦痛にうめき叫んでいた。ある者は自らの縁者を見て声を上げて呻き、またある者は父や祖父を目にして、途切れ途切れの、判然としない声で語り始めた。」
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethical cost of war: even amid martial duty, the sight of one’s own relatives—fathers and grandfathers—turns victory into grief, revealing the fragility of human life and the moral weight borne by those who fight.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield aftermath: wounded and fallen men lie on the ground crying out; recognizing their own family members among the casualties, they groan and speak faintly in broken voices.