Shloka 26
भीष्मरक्षण-प्रकरणम् / The Protective Screen around Bhīṣma and the Śalya–Yudhiṣṭhira Clash
प्रविष्ट: स निशां तां च गमयामास पार्थिव: । प्रभातायां च शर्वर्या प्रातरुत्थाय तान् नृप:
sañjaya uvāca | praviṣṭaḥ sa niśāṃ tāṃ ca gamayāmāsa pārthivaḥ | prabhātāyāṃ ca śarvaryā prātar utthāya tān nṛpaḥ |
三阇耶说道：国王进入住处，安然度过那一夜。夜尽天明之时，君主清晨起身，向诸王下令：“诸位狮子般的国王啊，整备军队以赴战。今日，战场上震怒的祖父毗湿摩，将使娑摩迦族遭到覆灭。”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how royal resolve and emotion—especially anger—can mobilize an entire polity toward violence. Ethically, it warns that leadership decisions in war are not private impulses but public forces that shape collective suffering and responsibility.
After spending the night, the king rises at dawn and instructs the assembled kings to prepare the army for battle, predicting that Bhīṣma, enraged on the battlefield, will slaughter the Somakas that day.