Shloka 40
शल्यस्य सेनापत्याभ्युपगमः | Śalya’s Acceptance of Command
पितामहेन वृद्धेन तथा55चार्येण धीमता । जयद्रथेन कर्णेन तथा दुःशासनेन च,“देवता तथा युद्धमें पीठ न दिखानेवाले शूरवीर जिस मार्गसे जाते हैं, क्या उसी मार्गपर अब हमलोग भी वृद्ध पितामह, बुद्धिमान् आचार्य द्रोण, जयद्रथ, कर्ण तथा दुःशासनके साथ आरूढ़ होंगे?
pitāmahena vṛddhena tathācāryeṇa dhīmatā | jayadrathena karṇena tathā duḥśāsanena ca |
サンジャヤは言った。「老いた大父ビーマ、賢き師ドローナ、ジャヤドラタ、カルナ、そしてドゥフシャーサナと共に――戦に背を見せぬ神々の勇士が去ってゆく、その同じ道を、今や我らも登ってゆくのだろうか。」
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames death in righteous combat as a culturally valorized ‘path’ for steadfast warriors—those who do not show their back in battle—while also conveying the moral weight and inevitability felt when great elders and champions have already fallen.
Sañjaya, reporting the war’s course, lists major Kaurava stalwarts (Bhīṣma, Droṇa, Jayadratha, Karṇa, Duḥśāsana) and voices the grim realization that the remaining warriors may soon follow them in death, on the same heroic path.