Shloka 87
Chapter 23: Śakuni Reports, Kaurava Advance, and Arjuna’s Penetration of the Host
कोष्ठकीकृत्य चाप्येनं परिक्षिप्य च सर्वश: । शस्त्रैर्ननाविधैर्जष्नुर्युद्धपारं तितीर्षव:
koṣṭhakīkṛtya cāpy enaṃ parikṣipya ca sarvaśaḥ | śastrair nānāvidhair jaghnur yuddhapāraṃ titīrṣavaḥ ||
三阇耶说道：他们将他逼入如同封闭围栏之中，又从四面八方团团围住；那些誓欲渡过战斗险潮的勇士，以种种兵器击刺斩伤他。
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a grim ethical reality of war: when victory becomes the primary objective, combat shifts from individual valor to collective overpowering. It implicitly invites reflection on how strategic necessity can eclipse ideals of fair combat, even within a dharma-framed battlefield.
Sañjaya narrates that a group of warriors surround a single opponent from all sides, confining him as if in a pen, and then strike him with many kinds of weapons, driven by the urgency to push through and reach the ‘far shore’—the decisive end—of the battle.