Shloka 38
Adhyāya 36: Ghora-yuddha-varṇanam
A Clinical Description of the Intensified Engagement
प्रथममपि पलायिते त्वयि प्रियकलहा धृतराष्ट्रसूनव: । स्मरसि ननु यदा प्रमोचिता: खचरगणानवजित्य पाण्डवै:
prathamam api palāyite tvayi priyakalahā dhṛtarāṣṭrasūnavaḥ | smarasi nanu yadā pramocitāḥ khacaragaṇān avajitya pāṇḍavaiḥ ||
“更早之前——当你第一个逃走之时——你难道不记得吗：那好争斗的持国诸子，是在般度五子击败了那群翱翔天际的乾闼婆之后，才得以脱离囚禁？你当真还记得这些事吗？”
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.