Sanjaya Uvaacha:
Drishtwaa tu paandavaaneekam
vyudham duryodhanastadaa;
Aachaaryam upasamgamya
raajaa vachanam abraveet.
Translation
Having seen the army of the Pandavas drawn up in battle array, King Duryodhana then
approached his teacher (Drona) and spoke these words
RG Purport: Dhritarashtra represents blindness, the inability to see anything at all. Sanjaya having been provided the ability to see the proceedings on the battlefield tries to pacify his king and master Dhritarashtra by reporting to him the scene on the battlefield. The two sides had assembled on the battlefield and it was the Kurus headed by their army general Bheeshma who appeared to start the attack. Duryodhana is addressed as king in this verse because although the chief was Bheeshma, Duryodhana had full control of the army and the Kuru army appeared to only serve Duryodhana’s unjust demands. He was a dictator and was unbridled in his unfair demands. Duryodhana was internally very scared of the Pandava army although the size of his army was almost double the size of the Pandava army. The one who is unfair and unjust is very low on self-confidence and has many blind spots. Duryodhana was the fruit of Dhritarashtra’s blind ambition. The fruit of blindness is also blind. Hence Duryodhana also lacked the ability to assess events or situations and merely created disturbance by resorting to his unfair demands. It is evident that one who is unjust in one’s conduct causing trouble in society is displaced thoroughly from one’s constitutional position. Such an entity lives and operates in fear. Such a living entity strives all of its life to establish its own supremacy through the most unfair means. The fear of failure right in the beginning loomed large on the mind of Duryodhana. Duryodhana’s early inspection of the Pandava front was to somehow feed his own false ego by reiterating the supremacy of the Kuru rank. Drona was the second in command of the Kuru army and placed near Duryodhana’s chariot. Drona’s favourite student Arjuna was on the Pandava side and Duryodhana wanting to take a dig at Drona and somehow cause some irritation in his mind and hence tried to describe the picayune nature of the Pandava armed forces.
Charan Pahari 