Shloka 453
निरर्जुनां वा पृथिवीं केशवानुचरिष्यसि । “केशव! या तो आज इस पृथ्वीको धृतराष्ट्रपुत्रोंसे सूनी करके अपने भाईके अधिकारमें दे दूँगा या आप अर्जुनरहित पृथ्वीपर विचरेंगे
nirarjunāṃ vā pṛthivīṃ keśavānucariṣyasi |
Sañjaya nói: “Hay là, hỡi Keśava, Ngài sẽ lang thang trên cõi đất vắng bóng Arjuna? Keśava! Hôm nay ta либо làm cho mặt đất này trống rỗng khỏi các con trai Dhṛtarāṣṭra rồi trao về quyền của anh em ta, hoặc Ngài sẽ phải bước đi trên một thế gian không còn Arjuna.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how dharma in the epic is person-centered: the fall of a righteous protector (Arjuna) is imagined as making the world itself ethically diminished. It highlights the catastrophic moral cost of war—victory or survival is hollow if it results in a world emptied of its dharmic guardians.
Sañjaya, narrating the battlefield events to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, evokes a stark alternative: Kṛṣṇa (Keśava) might have to traverse an earth ‘without Arjuna.’ It is a rhetorical intensification of the moment’s peril, emphasizing the possibility of Arjuna’s defeat and the resulting desolation.