Shloka 38
पज्चाशता पुनश्चाजौ त्रिंशता दशभिश्न ह | इसी प्रकार सात्यकिने भी युद्धस्थलमें पहले पचास, फिर तीस और फिर दस बाणोंद्वारा दुर्योधनको बींध डाला और उसे भी अपने बाणोंकी वर्षासे ढक दिया ।। सात्यकिं तु रणे राजन् प्रहसंस्तनयस्तव
pañcāśatā punaś cājau triṃśatā daśabhiś ca ha | satyakiṃ tu raṇe rājan prahasan tanayas tava ||
सञ्जय उवाच—तस्मिन् रणे स पुनः शरैः पञ्चाशता, ततस्त्रिंशता, ततः दशभिश्च तं विव्याध। सात्यकिस्तु रणे राजन् प्रहसन् तव सुतं घनैः शरवर्षैः समन्तात् प्राच्छादयामास।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the kṣatriya battlefield ethos—unyielding exertion and tactical pressure—while implicitly reminding the listener (the king) that war’s triumphs are inseparable from the moral and human cost borne by one’s own kin.
Sañjaya reports that Sātyaki strikes Duryodhana repeatedly with volleys of arrows—counted as fifty, then thirty, then ten—and then overwhelms him with a continuous shower, effectively covering him with shafts.