Shloka 31
Adhyāya 6: Śibira-dvāra-sthita Bhūta-varṇana and Aśvatthāmā’s Śaraṇāgati to Mahādeva
तस्या: फलमिदं घोर प्रतिघाताय कल्पते । तदिदं दैवविहितं मम संख्ये निवर्तनम्
tasyāḥ phalam idaṃ ghoraṃ pratighātāya kalpate | tad idaṃ daivavihitaṃ mama saṅkhye nivartanam ||
三阇耶说道：“这正是那迷误之途的可怖果报；它回转而来，以惨烈的报应击中我。因此，我在战阵中的退却，乃是天命所定。”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Actions driven by impure or unrighteous intent ripen into fearful consequences; what appears as a sudden reversal in war can be understood as the ordained fruition (phala) of prior moral deviation, framed as fate (daiva) bringing retribution (pratighāta).
Sañjaya comments that a dreadful outcome has manifested as a counter-blow, and he interprets his turning back from the battlefield as something determined by divine dispensation—an inevitable consequence unfolding within the war’s moral causality.