ततः शोणहयः क्रुद्धश् चतुर्दन्त इव द्विपः ॥
प्रविश्य पाण्डवानीकं युधिष्ठिरम् उपाद्रवत् ॥
तम् अविध्यच् छितैर् बाणैः कङ्कपत्रैर् युधिष्ठिरः ॥
तस्य द्रोणो धनुश् छित्त्वा तं द्रुतं समुपाद्रवत् ॥
चक्ररक्षः कुमारस् तु पाञ्चालानां यशस्करः ॥
दधार द्रोणम् आयान्तं वेलेव सरितां पतिम् ॥
द्रोणं निवारितं दृष्ट्वा कुमारेण द्विजर्षभम् ॥
सिंहनादरवो ह्य् आसीत् साधु साध्व् इति भाषताम् ॥
tataḥ śoṇahayaḥ kruddhaś caturdanta iva dvipaḥ ||
praviśya pāṇḍavānīkaṃ yudhiṣṭhiram upādravat ||
tam avidhyac chitair bāṇaiḥ kaṅkapatrair yudhiṣṭhiraḥ ||
tasya droṇo dhanuś chittvā taṃ drutaṃ samupādravat ||
cakrarakṣaḥ kumāras tu pāñcālānāṃ yaśaskaraḥ ||
dadhāra droṇam āyāntaṃ veleva saritāṃ patim ||
droṇaṃ nivāritaṃ dṛṣṭvā kumāreṇa dvijarṣabham ||
siṃhanādaravo hy āsīt sādhu sādhv iti bhāṣatām ||
Then Drona, the red-horsed one, enraged like a giant four-tusked elephant, having broken into the army of the Pandavas, fell upon Yudhishthira. Yudhishthira struck him with sharp arrows fletched with heron feathers; Drona, having broken his bow, at once rushed upon him. But the guardian of the wheel, the renowned prince of the Panchalas, checked Drona's advance, as a shore checks the ocean, the lord of rivers. Seeing Drona, the foremost of the twice-born, checked by the young prince, a lion's roar rose up from those who exclaimed 'splendid, splendid!'
cc72c0a2feae · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:00:04 PM UTC
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The young prince checks the formidable Drona 'as a shore checks the ocean': the small holds back the great, and the onlookers applaud the courage. The image of a shore holding back the boundless sea runs deep: it is not force but steadfastness in one's place that lets the weaker bar the path of the stronger. Yet we know this shore will be washed away: the young man's valor is beautiful and doomed. The verse teaches that steadfastness in one's place can, for a time, check even the unconquerable, as a shore checks the ocean; that the courage of the weaker, standing against the stronger, is worthy of praise even in its doom; and that true courage does not measure the enemy's strength but fulfills its duty wherever it is stationed.