धृतराष्ट्र उवाच
किं कुर्वाणं रणे द्रोणं जघ्नुः पाण्डवसृञ्जयाः ॥
तथा निपुणम् अस्त्रेषु सर्वशस्त्रभृताम् अपि ॥
रथभङ्गो बभूवास्य धनुर् वाशीर्यतास्यतः ॥
प्रमत्तो वाभवद् द्रोणस् ततो मृत्युम् उपेयिवान् ॥
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca
kiṃ kurvāṇaṃ raṇe droṇaṃ jaghnuḥ pāṇḍavasṛñjayāḥ ||
tathā nipuṇam astreṣu sarvaśastrabhṛtām api ||
rathabhaṅgo babhūvāsya dhanur vāśīryatāsyataḥ ||
pramatto vābhavad droṇas tato mṛtyum upeyivān ||
[Dhritarashtra said:] What, then, was Drona doing in battle when the Pandavas and Srinjayas slew him — him, so skilled in weapons, foremost among all who bear arms? Did his chariot break, or did his bow shatter as he loosed his arrows, or did Drona become careless — and so meet death?
080e4dab9d24 · published Jul 19, 2026, 2:46:26 PM UTC
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The grieving mind's first movement is to search for the cause of the impossible: the king runs through mishaps — did the chariot break? did the bow snap? did he grow careless? — unable to accept that the incomparable one could fall simply because he was mortal. So grief clings to "how," unwilling to accept the bare fact that it happened. But the truth is simpler than any guess: not a broken implement, but the law of Time, to which even the greatest are subject, brought Drona to death. The verse teaches that grief searches for particular causes where a universal law of impermanence is at work; that refusing to accept the mortality of even the mightiest is a mark of an unquiet heart; and that the question "why did the unconquerable one fall" is answered not by a list of mishaps but by remembering that all that is born must die.