ततो युधिष्ठिरप्रेप्सुर् आचार्यः शत्रुपूगहा ॥
व्यधमत् तान्य् अनीकानि तूलराशिम् इवानिलः ॥
निर्दहन्तम् अनीकानि तानि तानि पुनः पुनः ॥
द्रोणं मत्स्याद् अवरजः शतानीको ऽभ्यवर्तत ॥
tato yudhiṣṭhiraprepsur ācāryaḥ śatrupūgahā ||
vyadhamat tāny anīkāni tūlarāśim ivānilaḥ ||
nirdahantam anīkāni tāni tāni punaḥ punaḥ ||
droṇaṃ matsyād avarajaḥ śatānīko 'bhyavartata ||
Then the teacher, still hoping to reach Yudhishthira, the annihilator of enemy multitudes, scattered those ranks just as the wind scatters a pile of cotton. Against Drona, who was incinerating those ranks one after another, time after time, Shatanika, the younger brother of the king of the Matsyas, went forth to meet him.
7002f757705a · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:00:04 PM UTC
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Drona scatters whole peoples "as the wind scatters a pile of cotton": multitudes, however formidable in number, are weightless before a single master. Yet here too the valor of the small does not run dry: no sooner does one fall than another comes forward to meet him — Shatanika, the king's brother. It is notable that the telling sets off Drona's invincibility not against the despondency of his victims but against their unbroken courage: they perish, but do not flee from him. The verse teaches that the superiority of one over the many can be such that number turns to dust; but that the true honor of an army lies not in overcoming the unconquerable, but in going forth against him again and again, undaunted by the fate of those who came before; and that in this succession of men rising to a hopeless fight there is its own indestructible greatness.