Shloka 26
धर्मराजस्य चिन्ता, भीमसेनप्रेषणम्, द्रोणानीकप्रवेशप्रयत्नः
Yudhiṣṭhira’s Anxiety and the Dispatch of Bhīma; Attempted Breakthrough into Droṇa’s Formation
सर्वसैन्यानि राजा च धृतराष्ट्रो5त्ययं गतः । दुर्योधनापराधेन क्षत्रं कृत्स्ना च मेदिनी
sarvasainyāni rājā ca dhṛtarāṣṭro 'tyayaṃ gataḥ | duryodhanāparādhena kṣatraṃ kṛtsnā ca medinī ||
सञ्जय उवाच— सर्वसैन्यानि राजा च धृतराष्ट्रोऽप्यत्ययं गतः । दुर्योधनापराधेन क्षत्रं कृत्स्ना च मेदिनी ॥
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores moral causality in epic history: a leader’s culpable wrongdoing (aparādha) can precipitate vast, collective suffering—ruining armies, destabilizing kingship, and devastating the wider world. It frames the war’s catastrophe not as fate alone but as the ethical consequence of adharma, especially when power is misused and corrected counsel is ignored.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra the scale of devastation in the Kurukṣetra war. He states that the armies have been destroyed and that even Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s royal house has effectively come to ruin, attributing the calamity to Duryodhana’s offense—his obstinate, wrongful course that led to the annihilation of the Kṣatriya hosts and widespread desolation across the earth.