Shloka 31
धृष्टद्युम्नस्य द्रोणाभिमुख्यं तथा सात्यकि-कर्ण-समागमः
Dhṛṣṭadyumna’s advance toward Droṇa and the Sātyaki–Karṇa confrontation
यदिच्छसि शिरश्नलास्य असिना हन्तुमाहवे | तथा कृच्छूगतं चैव सात्यकिं क: क्षमिष्यति,इसलिये तुम युद्धस्थलमें तलवारसे उसका सिर काट लेना चाहते थे। सात्यकिको वैसे संकटमें देखकर मेरे पक्षका कौन वीर सहन करेगा?
yad icchasi śiraś chindituṁ asiṇā hantum āhave | tathā kṛcchragataṁ caiva sātyakiṁ kaḥ kṣamiṣyati ||
यदिच्छसि शिरश्छित्त्वा असिना हन्तुमाहवे । तथा कृच्छ्रगतं चैव सात्यकिं कः क्षमिष्यति ॥
अर्जुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even amid righteous warfare, a warrior’s duty is shaped by responsibility toward allies: Arjuna frames the issue not as personal vengeance but as the moral and emotional impossibility of abandoning or calmly witnessing a comrade (Sātyaki) in extreme danger.
Arjuna addresses a battlefield decision: he refers to the intention to behead an opponent with a sword, and immediately connects it to the urgent predicament of Sātyaki—implying that the Pāṇḍava side cannot tolerate Sātyaki being trapped in peril and must respond decisively.