Kashyashcha Parameshvasah

Sanjay now reels off the names of yet more warriors standing in the Pandava ranks. Kashiraja, the king of Kashi, is a supreme archer. Shikhandi is a maharathi. Dhrishtadyumna commands the Panchala forces. King Virata — in whose kingdom the Pandavas spent their year of hiding — is there. And Satyaki, the Yadava warrior who has never been defeated.

It is like listening to an elder recounting the brave men of a village, one name after another, each carrying a story of its own. Every warrior listed here is famous in his own right. Their presence in the Pandava army speaks to its depth and might.

Sanjay names them deliberately. He wants Dhritarashtra to understand that the Pandava side is far from weak. Each name he adds deepens the gravity of what is about to unfold on the battlefield.

This shloka is part of the opening section of Arjuna Vishada Yoga, where the scene at Kurukshetra is being set. In the preceding shlokas, Bhima, Arjuna, and the other Pandavas sounded their conches. Now Sanjay lists the warriors who fill the Pandava ranks.

The purpose of these verses is to make the listener feel the sheer weight of power assembled on both sides. This is no ordinary skirmish — it is the decisive clash between dharma and adharma.