Shloka 18
Adhyāya 35 — Bhīmasena’s Counter-Encirclement and the Karṇa Engagement Escalation
मनोगतं मम हाासीद् भीष्मद्रोणी महारथौ
manogataṁ mama hāsīd bhīṣma-droṇī mahārathau
“ہائے! میرے دل میں تو بھیشم اور درون—وہ دونوں مہارتھی—ہماری جانب کے فیصلہ کن ستون سمجھے جاتے تھے۔”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how reliance on even the greatest worldly supports—powerful leaders and famed warriors—can prove fragile in the face of destiny and the moral complexity of war; inner assumptions (manogata) may collapse when events unfold.
Sañjaya, reporting the battlefield to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, laments that he had mentally counted Bhīṣma and Droṇa as the key great warriors (mahārathas) whose presence would secure the Kaurava side, implying disappointment after their fall or ineffectiveness against the opposing force.