Shloka 5
अध्याय ३: कृपस्य दुर्योधनं प्रति नीत्युपदेशः
Kṛpa’s Counsel to Duryodhana
वणिजो नावि भिन्नायामगाधे विप्लवा इव,राजन! जैसे अगाध महासागरमें नाव फट जानेपर नौकारहित व्यापारी उस अपार समुद्रसे पार जानेकी इच्छा रखते हुए घबरा उठते हैं, उसी प्रकार किरीटधारी अर्जुनके द्वारा द्वीपस्वरूप सूतपुत्रके मारे जानेपर बाणोंसे क्षत-विक्षत हो हम सब लोग भयभीत हो गये थे
vaṇijo nāvi bhinnāyām agādhe viplavā iva, rājan!
サンジャヤは語った。「王よ、底知れぬ大海で船が砕け、頼る舟も失った商人たちが、なお彼岸を望みつつ恐慌に陥るように、われらもまた、冠を戴くアルジュナが、軍の支えとして島のごとく在った御者の子カルナを討ったとき、矢に裂かれた身のまま恐怖に震えたのです。」
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how armies and leaders can become psychologically unmoored when their chief support is lost: confidence collapses like shipwrecked merchants in a deep sea. It underscores the ethical and strategic weight of dependence on a single champion and the inevitability of fear and disarray when that pillar falls.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra the Kaurava side’s panic after Arjuna, the ‘diadem-wearing’ hero, has slain Karṇa. The Kauravas, already wounded by arrows, feel as if they have lost their ‘island’ of refuge in the battle and are overwhelmed like shipwreck victims in an endless ocean.