तं द्रौणिः पञ्चविंशत्या क्षुद्रकाणां समर्पयत् ॥
वरं वरम् अमित्राणाम् आरुजन्तम् अभीतवत् ॥
स तु बाणैः शितैस् तूर्णं प्रत्यविध्यत मारिष ॥
पश्यतां धार्तराष्ट्राणाम् अश्वत्थामानम् आर्जुनिः ॥
षष्ट्या शराणां तं द्रौणिस् तिग्मधारैः सुतेजनैः ॥
उग्रैर् नाकम्पयद् विद्ध्वा मैनाकम् इव पर्वतम् ॥
taṃ drauṇiḥ pañcaviṃśatyā kṣudrakāṇāṃ samarpayat ||
varaṃ varam amitrāṇām ārujantam abhītavat ||
sa tu bāṇaiḥ śitais tūrṇaṃ pratyavidhyata māriṣa ||
paśyatāṃ dhārtarāṣṭrāṇām aśvatthāmānam ārjuniḥ ||
ṣaṣṭyā śarāṇāṃ taṃ drauṇis tigmadhāraiḥ sutejanaiḥ ||
ugrair nākampayad viddhvā mainākam iva parvatam ||
Him the son of Drona [Ashvatthaman] struck with twenty-five light arrows, him who was fearlessly crushing the foremost of the foes. He in turn, O worthy one, swiftly struck back the son of Drona with sharp arrows before the eyes of the Dhartarashtras. The son of Drona, having wounded him with sixty sharp-edged, brightly-honed, fierce arrows, did not shake him, as though he were the mountain Mainaka.
881abcd46725 · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:30:04 PM UTC
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The sixty fierce arrows of Ashvatthaman do not shake the youth -- he stands ‘like the mountain Mainaka,’ immovable. Thus is shown the limit of steadfastness: even the son of Drona, the most fearsome of the fearsome, cannot unsettle the child. The comparison to Mainaka is significant -- the mountain that once hid in the ocean from Indra, unconquerable. The verse teaches that true firmness does not waver even under a hail of blows from the mightiest; that greatness of spirit is like a mountain that no force can move; and that Abhimanyu, unmoved beneath the sixty arrows of Ashvatthaman, displays that unshakability before which even the most fearsome are in vain -- for his steadiness lies not in a body that suffers from wounds, but in a spirit as immovable as an ancient mountain.