तेषाम् अथो द्रोणधनुर्विमुक्ताः; पतत्रिणः काञ्चनचित्रपुङ्खाः ॥
भित्त्वा शरीराणि गजाश्वयूनां; जग्मुर् महीं शोणितदिग्धवाजाः ॥
सा योधसंघैश् च रथैश् च भूमिः; शरैर् विभिन्नैर् गजवाजिभिश् च ॥
प्रच्छाद्यमाना पतितैर् बभूव; समन्ततो द्यौर् इव कालमेघैः ॥
शैनेयभीमार्जुनवाहिनीपाञ्; शैब्याभिमन्यू सह काशिराज्ञा ॥
अन्यांश् च वीरान् समरे प्रमृद्नाद्; द्रोणः सुतानां तव भूतिकामः ॥
teṣām atho droṇadhanurvimuktāḥ; patatriṇaḥ kāñcanacitrapuṅkhāḥ ||
bhittvā śarīrāṇi gajāśvayūnāṃ; jagmur mahīṃ śoṇitadigdhavājāḥ ||
sā yodhasaṃghaiś ca rathaiś ca bhūmiḥ; śarair vibhinnair gajavājibhiś ca ||
pracchādyamānā patitair babhūva; samantato dyaur iva kālameghaiḥ ||
śaineyabhīmārjunavāhinīpāñ; śaibyābhimanyū saha kāśirājñā ||
anyāṃś ca vīrān samare pramṛdnād; droṇaḥ sutānāṃ tava bhūtikāmaḥ ||
Then those winged shafts, loosed from Drona's bow, with gilded ornamented tails, pierced the bodies of elephants and horses and sank into the earth, their feathers stained with blood. That earth, overspread on every side with heaps of warriors, shattered chariots, splintered arrows, and fallen elephants and horses, became like a sky covered with the storm-clouds of the world's end. The commanders of the hosts of Shaineya [Satyaki], Bhima, and Arjuna, Shaibya and Abhimanyu together with the king of Kashi, and other heroes besides, were crushed in battle by Drona, who was working for the good of your sons.
5740468da1d5 · published Jul 19, 2026, 2:46:26 PM UTC
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The earth, overspread with the fallen, is 'like a sky in the storm-clouds of the world's end': the battlefield becomes a mirror of universal dissolution, a small image of the world's destruction. And all this Drona does 'for the good of your sons' — the bitterest of contradictions: the good of some is purchased by the slaughter of thousands, and this very 'good' is itself unrighteous. Thus is revealed the falsehood of every war fought for gain: it calls itself care for one's own, yet turns into the devastation of the earth. The verse teaches that a field strewn with the dead is an image of the world's end, reenacted in miniature by every unrighteous war; and that the 'good' for which innocent blood is spilled is not good at all, but its mask, beneath which lies universal ruin.