Shloka 38
प्रथममपि पलायिते त्वयि प्रियकलहा धृतराष्ट्रसूनव: । स्मरसि ननु यदा प्रमोचिता: खचरगणानवजित्य पाण्डवै:,उस युद्धमें तुम सबसे पहले भाग गये थे। उस समय पाण्डवोंने गन्धर्वोको पराजित करके कलहप्रिय धृतराष्ट्रपुत्रोंको कैदसे छुड़ाया था। क्या ये सब बातें तुम्हें याद हैं?
prathamam api palāyite tvayi priyakalahā dhṛtarāṣṭrasūnavaḥ | smarasi nanu yadā pramocitāḥ khacaragaṇān avajitya pāṇḍavaiḥ ||
प्रथममपि त्वयि पलायिते, स्मरसि ननु यदा कलहप्रियाः धृतराष्ट्रसूनवः—पाण्डवैः खचरगणान् अवजित्य—बन्धनात् प्रमोचिताः? एतानि सर्वाणि किं नु ते स्मृतौ सन्ति?
शल्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Śalya invokes a past humiliation to press an ethical point: one who boasts of valor should remember prior failures and the debt owed to others. The verse underscores accountability, the danger of quarrelsome pride, and the expectation that a kṣatriya’s honor rests on steadiness and truthful self-assessment.
In the Karṇa Parva, Śalya (serving as Karṇa’s charioteer) repeatedly needles and demoralizes him. Here he reminds Karṇa that on an earlier occasion Karṇa fled first, while the Pāṇḍavas defeated the Gandharvas and thereby secured the release of Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s sons—an episode used to shame Karṇa and expose Kaurava dependence on the Pāṇḍavas.