सूर्यरश्मिप्रतीकाशैः कर्मारपरिमार्जितैः ॥
षड्भिः ससूतं सहयं द्रोणं विद्ध्वानदद् भृशम् ॥
तस्य नानदतो द्रोणः शिरः कायात् सकुण्डलम् ॥
क्षुरेणापाहरत् तूर्णं ततो मत्स्याः प्रदुद्रुवुः ॥
sūryaraśmipratīkāśaiḥ karmāraparimārjitaiḥ ||
ṣaḍbhiḥ sasūtaṃ sahayaṃ droṇaṃ viddhvānadad bhṛśam ||
tasya nānadato droṇaḥ śiraḥ kāyāt sakuṇḍalam ||
kṣureṇāpāharat tūrṇaṃ tato matsyāḥ pradudruvuḥ ||
Having pierced Drona—together with his charioteer and horses—with six arrows blazing like sunbeams and honed by the smith, [Shatanika] roared with all his might. While he was still roaring, Drona swiftly struck off his head from his body with a razor-arrow—along with its earrings; and then the Matsyas fled.
b0f127214c8b · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:00:04 PM UTC
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Shatanika roars triumphantly the instant he wounds Drona—and before his cry can fade, his head flies from his shoulders. In this swift reversal lies a stern lesson about premature triumph: to gloat over the mightiest while he still lives is to summon one's own death. It is telling that the tradition notes the earrings on the severed head—a mark of youth and nobility that makes the death bitterer still. The verse teaches that boasting before a deed is finished is ruinous, especially before one who surpasses you; that a warrior should finish his work in silence, not in shouting; and that the moment between a triumphant cry and death is vanishingly small when the opponent is one whose measure you have not yet exceeded.