Shloka 23
कृष्णेन अर्जुनस्य प्रोत्साहनम् — Kṛṣṇa’s Exhortation to Arjuna
Prelude to Karṇa’s Slaying
नरास्तु निहता भूमौ कूजन्तस्तत्र मारिष | दृष्टवा च बान्धवानन्ये पितृनन्ये पितामहान्
narāstu nihatā bhūmau kūjantastatra māriṣa | dṛṣṭvā ca bāndhavān anye pitṝn anye pitāmahān |
Wika ni Sañjaya: “O kagalang-galang, doon sa larangan ng digmaan, maraming tao ang napabagsak at nakahandusay sa lupa, humihiyaw sa paghihirap. Ang ilan, nang makita ang sarili nilang mga kamag-anak, ay umuungol nang malakas; ang iba, nang mamataan ang kanilang ama at lolo, ay nagsimulang magsalita sa putol-putol at malabong tinig.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethical cost of war: even amid martial duty, the sight of one’s own relatives—fathers and grandfathers—turns victory into grief, revealing the fragility of human life and the moral weight borne by those who fight.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield aftermath: wounded and fallen men lie on the ground crying out; recognizing their own family members among the casualties, they groan and speak faintly in broken voices.