व्यक्तम् एव च मे शंस यथा युद्धम् अवर्तत ॥
के ऽयुध्यन् के व्यपाकर्षन् के क्षुद्राः प्राद्रवन् भयात् ॥
धनंजयं च मे शंस यद् यच् चक्रे रथर्षभः ॥
तस्माद् भयं नो भूयिष्ठं भ्रातृव्याच् च विशेषतः ॥
यथासीच् च निवृत्तेषु पाण्डवेषु च संजय ॥
मम सैन्यावशेषस्य संनिपातः सुदारुणः ॥
मामकानां च ये शूराः कांस् तत्र समवारयन् ॥
vyaktam eva ca me śaṃsa yathā yuddham avartata ||
ke 'yudhyan ke vyapākarṣan ke kṣudrāḥ prādravan bhayāt ||
dhanaṃjayaṃ ca me śaṃsa yad yac cakre ratharṣabhaḥ ||
tasmād bhayaṃ no bhūyiṣṭhaṃ bhrātṛvyāc ca viśeṣataḥ ||
yathāsīc ca nivṛtteṣu pāṇḍaveṣu ca saṃjaya ||
mama sainyāvaśeṣasya saṃnipātaḥ sudāruṇaḥ ||
māmakānāṃ ca ye śūrāḥ kāṃs tatra samavārayan ||
Tell me openly how the battle proceeded: who fought, who withdrew, who, faint-hearted, fled out of fear. And tell me about Dhananjaya — all that the foremost of charioteers did; from him we have the greatest fear, and especially from this kinsman-foe. And tell me, O Sanjaya, how it was when the Pandavas turned to battle — the most terrible clash of the remnant of my army.
5ceef06e23d4 · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:11:21 PM UTC
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Closing his lament, Dhritarashtra asks for truth "openly" — who fought, who fled; and above all he wants to know about Arjuna, from whom comes "the greatest fear." It is telling that he calls Arjuna a "kinsman-foe" (bhrātṛvya): the enmity itself lies within the family, and most fearsome of all is one's own kin. In the blind king's request there is both a longing to see the unseen through words and a sober recognition of whom one must fear. The verse teaches that even in grief a man seeks unadorned truth — to know how things actually were; that the greatest danger often comes not from a stranger but from one's own, driven away by injustice; and that enmity kindled within a family is more terrible than any external one, for in it the very strength that by kinship should have protected you is turned against you.