Shloka 17
भीमसेन–अलायुधयुद्धम् / Bhīmasena and Alāyudha: Night Engagement and Command Responses
जो भूमिपाल मेरे लिये इस भूमिको जीतना चाहते थे, वे स्वयं भूमण्डलका एऐश्वर्य त्यागकर भूमिपर सो रहे हैं ।। सो<हं कापुरुष: कृत्वा मित्राणां क्षयमीदृशम् । अश्वमेधसहस्रेण पावितुं न समुत्सहे,मैं कायर हूँ, अपने मित्रोंका ऐसा संहार कराकर हजारों अश्वमेध-यज्ञोंसे भी अपनेको पवित्र नहीं कर सकता
ye bhūmipālā mama kṛte imāṃ bhūmiṃ jetum aicchan, te svayaṃ bhūmaṇḍalasyaiśvaryaṃ tyaktvā bhūmau śerate. so 'haṃ kāpuruṣaḥ kṛtvā mitrāṇāṃ kṣayam īdṛśam, aśvamedha-sahasreṇa pāvituṃ na samutsahe.
सोऽहं कापुरुषः कृत्वा मित्राणां क्षयमीदृशम्। अश्वमेधसहस्रेण पावितुं न समुत्सहे॥
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Worldly sovereignty and ritual merit cannot erase the ethical burden of causing the ruin of one’s allies; genuine accountability is moral, not merely ceremonial.
Duryodhana reflects on the battlefield’s outcome: kings who fought for his cause now lie dead. Overwhelmed by the scale of allied losses, he calls himself a coward and admits that even grand sacrifices like a thousand Aśvamedhas would not purify him.