Shloka 29
Śalya’s Consecration as Senāpati and Kṛṣṇa’s Counsel to Yudhiṣṭhira (शल्यस्य सेनापत्यभिषेकः)
शल्य बोले--राजन्! कुरुराज! तुम मुझसे जो कुछ चाहते हो, मैं उसे पूर्ण करूँगा; क्योंकि मेरे प्राण, राज्य और धन सब तुम्हारा प्रिय करनेके लिये ही हैं ।। दुर्योधन उवाच सैनापत्येन वरये त्वामहं मातुलातुलम् । सोअस्मान् पाहि युधां श्रेष्ठ स्कन्दो देवानिवाहवे
duryodhana uvāca | senāpatyena varaye tvām ahaṃ mātulātulam | so 'smān pāhi yudhāṃ śreṣṭha skando devān ivāhave ||
Duryodhana said: “I choose you—my maternal uncle, incomparable—as commander of the army. Therefore protect us, O best of warriors, as Skanda protects the gods in battle.” In the ethical frame of the epic, Duryodhana’s appeal shows reliance on kinship and martial prowess to secure victory, even as the war’s moral weight presses upon every choice of leadership.
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how leadership in crisis is sought through perceived excellence and trusted bonds: Duryodhana entrusts supreme command to Shalya and frames protection through a divine martial analogy (Skanda guarding the gods). It also implicitly shows the epic’s tension between strategic necessity and the larger moral consequences of war.
In the Shalya Parva, Duryodhana formally appoints Shalya—his maternal uncle—as the commander of the Kaurava forces and urges him to protect their side in battle, comparing Shalya’s role to Skanda defending the gods in combat.