Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: In the field of virtue, in Kuru-kṣetra, gathered desirous of battle, what did my sons and the Pāṇḍavas do, oh Sañjaya?

The text begins with the blind king Dhṛtarāṣṭra asking his charioteer Sañjaya. The term dharma-kṣetra (field of virtue/righteousness) already anticipates the depth of this place: it is not merely a battlefield but the ground where dharma is tested.

The division māmakāḥ (my sons, the Kauravas) and pāṇḍavāḥ (the Pāṇḍavas, nephews/grandsons) reveals the king’s bias. Though related to both sides, he identifies only one as “his own.”

yuyutsavaḥ — both sides are ready for battle, but only Arjuna will experience viṣāda (desperation/grief).