अत्यन्तशत्रुर् अस्माकं येन दुःशासनः शरैः ॥
क्षिप्रं ह्य् अभिमुखः संक्ये विसंज्ञो विमुखीकृतः ॥
स तीर्त्वा दुस्तरं वीरो द्रोणानीकमहार्णवम् ॥
प्राप्य दौःशासनिं कार्ष्णिर् यातो वैवस्वतक्षयम् ॥
atyantaśatrur asmākaṃ yena duḥśāsanaḥ śaraiḥ ||
kṣipraṃ hy abhimukhaḥ saṃkye visaṃjño vimukhīkṛtaḥ ||
sa tīrtvā dustaraṃ vīro droṇānīkamahārṇavam ||
prāpya dauḥśāsaniṃ kārṣṇir yāto vaivasvatakṣayam ||
"By him, [that boy], with arrows our fiercest foe Duhshasana, who had confronted him in battle, was in an instant robbed of his senses and put to flight. And he, the champion, having overcome the unconquerable vast sea of Drona's host, having reached the son of Duhshasana — the son of Krishna departed to the hall of Yama."
28e20df62f06 · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:30:04 PM UTC
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The contrast is cruel: he who only moments before had put Duhshasana himself to flight has now himself "departed to the abode of Vaivasvata". The image "droṇānīka-mahārṇavam… tīrtvā", "having overcome the vast sea of Drona's host", turns the battle formation into an ocean that the boy alone swam across — only to fall. It is telling that his slayer is not the mightiest warrior but "dauḥśāsanim", the son of that very Duhshasana whom he had just struck senseless: evil takes its revenge through the hands of the next generation. The verse teaches that the greatest feat and the bitterest death fit within a single breath of war.