Shloka 154
Sauptika Parva, Adhyaya 8 — Dhṛṣṭadyumna-vadha and the Camp’s Nocturnal Rout
संजय उवाच तेषां नूनं भयान्नासौ कृतवान् कुरुनन्दन । असांनिध्याद्धि पार्थानां केशवस्य च धीमत:
sañjaya uvāca teṣāṃ nūnaṃ bhayān nāsau kṛtavān kurunandana | asānnidhyād dhi pārthānāṃ keśavasya ca dhīmataḥ ||
三阇耶说道：“库鲁的欢欣啊，他决非因惧怕他们才如此行事。因为般度五子不在场，睿智的计舍婆也不在场。”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how wrongdoing often occurs when those who embody strength and moral restraint are absent; it implies that the agent’s action was not brave confrontation but an opportunistic deed enabled by the absence of the Pāṇḍavas and Kṛṣṇa.
Sañjaya explains to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the deed under discussion was not done out of fear of the Pāṇḍavas; rather, it was carried out because the Pāṇḍavas and the wise Kṛṣṇa (Keśava) were not present.