केकयानां शतं हत्वा विद्राव्य च समन्ततः ॥
द्रोणस् तस्थौ महाराज व्यादितास्य इवान्तकः ॥
पाञ्चालान् सृञ्जयान् मत्स्यान् केकयान् पाण्डवान् अपि ॥
द्रोणो ऽजयन् महाबाहुः शतशो ऽथ सहस्रशः ॥
तेषां समभवच् छब्दो वध्यतां द्रोणसायकैः ॥
वनौकसाम् इवारण्ये दह्यतां धूमकेतुना ॥
तत्र देवाः सगन्धर्वाः पितरश् चाब्रुवन् नृप ॥
एते द्रवन्ति पाञ्चालाः पाण्डवाश् च ससैनिकाः ॥
kekayānāṃ śataṃ hatvā vidrāvya ca samantataḥ ||
droṇas tasthau mahārāja vyāditāsya ivāntakaḥ ||
pāñcālān sṛñjayān matsyān kekayān pāṇḍavān api ||
droṇo 'jayan mahābāhuḥ śataśo 'tha sahasraśaḥ ||
teṣāṃ samabhavac chabdo vadhyatāṃ droṇasāyakaiḥ ||
vanaukasām ivāraṇye dahyatāṃ dhūmaketunā ||
tatra devāḥ sagandharvāḥ pitaraś cābruvan nṛpa ||
ete dravanti pāñcālāḥ pāṇḍavāś ca sasainikāḥ ||
"Having slain a hundred Kekayas and routed them on every side, Drona stood, o great king, like Death with jaws agape. The Panchalas, Srinjayas, Matsyas, Kekayas, and the Pandavas too, Drona, the mighty-armed, conquered by hundreds and then by thousands. Among them, slain by Drona's arrows, arose a cry like that of forest dwellers being burned by fire in the wild. There the gods with the gandharvas and the ancestors said, o king: 'Behold, the Panchalas flee, and the Pandavas with their troops.'"
71b65083fc00 · published Jul 19, 2026, 4:02:23 PM UTC
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Drona stands 'vyāditāsya iva antakaḥ', like Death with jaws agape, and the cry of the dying is like the cry of creatures in a forest fire. Even the gods and ancestors look on from above, marking the rout. It is telling that the fearsomeness of a single man turns whole nations to ash. The verse teaches that might, even when given to an unjust cause, is terrible, and the valor of a teacher standing for a doomed side sows death -- but such fearsomeness is fleeting, for it rests on wrong itself.