Санджая
संजय उवाच
संशुष्कास्याश् चलन्नेत्राः प्रस्विन्ना लोमहर्षिणः ॥
पलायनकृतोत्साहा निरुत्साहा द्विषज्जये ॥
हतान् भ्रातॄन् पितॄन् पुत्रान् सुहृत्संबन्धिबान्धवान् ॥
उत्सृज्योत्सृज्य समियुस् त्वरयन्तो हयद्विपान् ॥
saṃjaya uvāca
saṃśuṣkāsyāś calannetrāḥ prasvinnā lomaharṣiṇaḥ ||
palāyanakṛtotsāhā nirutsāhā dviṣajjaye ||
hatān bhrātṝn pitṝn putrān suhṛtsaṃbandhibāndhavān ||
utsṛjyotsṛjya samiyus tvarayanto hayadvipān ||
With parched mouths, darting eyes, in sweat, hair standing on end, thinking only of flight, downcast in [hope of] overcoming the enemy, abandoning one after another their slain brothers, fathers, sons, friends, kinsmen by marriage, and relatives, they fled, driving on their horses and elephants.
7f3b66c4f11c · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:30:04 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Again — the utmost extreme of collapse: in the terror of flight, warriors abandon the bodies of brothers, fathers, sons. Fear for one's own life overpowers both love and the duty of burial. Thus it shows to what depth panic can bring a person — down to betrayal of the most sacred bonds. It is telling that the tradition repeats this image, as though driving it home: this is the true face of rout. The verse teaches that fear for oneself can drown out even the strongest thing in a person — love for kin; that panic turns warriors into those who abandon their dead, trampling the duty owed to blood; and that the tradition, never tiring of recalling the abandoned brothers and fathers, reveals: the true horror of war lies not in the heaps of bodies but in the fact that the living forsake their dead kin to save their own lives.