Shloka 7
Bhīmasena’s Eastern Digvijaya and the Cedi Reception
Sabhā-parva 26
स तानपि महेष्वासान् विजिग्ये भरतर्षभ । तैरेव सहित: सर्व: प्राग्ज्योतिषमुपाद्रवत्,भरतकुलभूषण जनमेजय! अर्जुनने उन महान् धनुर्धरोंको भी जीत लिया और उन सबको साथ लेकर प्राग्ज्योतिषपुरपर धावा किया
sa tān api maheṣvāsān vijigye bharatarṣabha | tair eva sahitaḥ sarvaḥ prāgjyotiṣam upādravat |
ਹੇ ਭਰਤ-ਸ਼੍ਰੇਸ਼ਠ! ਅਰਜੁਨ ਨੇ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਮਹਾਨ ਧਨੁਰਧਰਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਵੀ ਜਿੱਤ ਲਿਆ ਅਤੇ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਸਭ ਨੂੰ ਨਾਲ ਲੈ ਕੇ ਪ੍ਰਾਗਜ੍ਯੋਤਿਸ਼ਪੁਰ ਉੱਤੇ ਚੜ੍ਹਾਈ ਕਰ ਦਿੱਤੀ।
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a political-ethical pattern in royal campaigns: victory is not only the defeat of opponents but also their incorporation into a larger order. Conquest here functions as consolidation—transforming resistance into alliance—suggesting that power, when exercised effectively, aims at establishing stable dominion rather than mere destruction.
Arjuna defeats a group of formidable archers and then proceeds toward Prāgjyotiṣa to attack it, taking those very defeated warriors along with him as part of his advancing force.