युध्यन्ते बहवः शूरा लम्बते च दिवाकरः ॥
शङ्के जयद्रथं पार्थो नैव प्राप्स्यति मानद ॥
स त्वं कर्ण मया सार्धं शूरैश् चान्यैर् महारथैः ॥
युध्यस्व यत्नम् आस्थाय परं पार्थेन संयुगे ॥
एवम् उक्तस् तु राधेयस् तव पुत्रेण मारिष ॥
दुर्योधनम् इदं वाक्यं प्रत्युवाच कुरूत्तमम् ॥
yudhyante bahavaḥ śūrā lambate ca divākaraḥ ||
śaṅke jayadrathaṃ pārtho naiva prāpsyati mānada ||
sa tvaṃ karṇa mayā sārdhaṃ śūraiś cānyair mahārathaiḥ ||
yudhyasva yatnam āsthāya paraṃ pārthena saṃyuge ||
evam uktas tu rādheyas tava putreṇa māriṣa ||
duryodhanam idaṃ vākyaṃ pratyuvāca kurūttamam ||
"Many heroes are fighting, and the lord of day sinks low; I suspect, O giver of honor, that Partha will not reach Jayadratha at all. So you, Karna, together with me and other heroic great chariot-warriors, fight, exerting effort to the utmost, in the clash with Partha." Thus addressed by your son, O honored one, Radheya replied with this speech to Duryodhana, the best of the Kurus.
17e49bceca65 · published Jul 19, 2026, 4:25:13 PM UTC
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Duryodhana calls on everyone to fall upon one man: where there is no confidence in the rightness of the cause, men rely on numbers. It is telling that the leader himself asks his ally for "utmost effort": inwardly he is already unsure of the outcome. The verse teaches that a call to gather all forces against one man betrays not superiority but anxiety; and he who summons every hero at once secretly knows that ordinary measures will not stop the enemy.