धृतराष्ट्र उवाच
किं तस्यां मम सेनायां नासन् के चिन् महारथाः ॥
ये तथा सात्यकिं यान्तं नैवाघ्नन् नाप्य् अवारयन् ॥
एको हि समरे कर्म कृतवान् सत्यविक्रमः ॥
शक्रतुल्यबलो युद्धे महेन्द्रो दानवेष्व् इव ॥
अथ वा शून्यम् आसीत् तद् येन यातः स सात्यकिः ॥
एको वै बहुलाः सेनाः प्रमृद्नन् पुरुषर्षभः ॥
कथं च युध्यमानानाम् अपक्रान्तो महात्मनाम् ॥
एको बहूनां शैनेयस् तन् ममाचक्ष्व संजय ॥
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca
kiṃ tasyāṃ mama senāyāṃ nāsan ke cin mahārathāḥ ||
ye tathā sātyakiṃ yāntaṃ naivāghnan nāpy avārayan ||
eko hi samare karma kṛtavān satyavikramaḥ ||
śakratulyabalo yuddhe mahendro dānaveṣv iva ||
atha vā śūnyam āsīt tad yena yātaḥ sa sātyakiḥ ||
eko vai bahulāḥ senāḥ pramṛdnan puruṣarṣabhaḥ ||
kathaṃ ca yudhyamānānām apakrānto mahātmanām ||
eko bahūnāṃ śaineyas tan mamācakṣva saṃjaya ||
"Were there truly no great warriors at all in that army of mine, who, as Satyaki was riding on so, neither slew him nor held him back? For alone, of true valor, he performed a deed in battle, equal to Shakra in strength in the fight, like great Indra among the danavas. Or else was that path empty, by which that Satyaki went, if alone, that bull among men, he trampled down so many hosts?"
64a4b6eb34c3 · published Jul 19, 2026, 4:08:02 PM UTC
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Dhritarashtra cannot believe that one man passed through an entire army, and he searches: "śūnyam āsīt tat" -- was the path not simply empty? So a mind that cannot hold a wonder looks for an ordinary explanation of it. It is telling that the greatness of the feat seems implausible. The verse teaches that a deed exceeding measure is first met by the mind's effort to explain it away as something simple; but true wonder of valor does not fit the accustomed scale, and disbelief in it is only a mark of its greatness.