द्रोणस् तु तद् वचः श्रुत्वा पुत्रस्य तव दुर्मनाः ॥
मुहूर्तम् इव तु ध्यात्वा भृशम् आर्तो ऽभ्यभाषत ॥
दुर्योधन किम् एवं मां वाक्शरैर् अभिकृन्तसि ॥
अजय्यं समरे नित्यं ब्रुवाणं सव्यसाचिनम् ॥
एतेनैवार्जुनं ज्ञातुम् अलं कौरव संयुगे ॥
यच् छिखण्ड्य् अवधीद् भीष्मं पाल्यमानः किरीटिना ॥
अवध्यं निहतं दृष्ट्वा संयुगे देवमानुषैः ॥
तदैवाज्ञासिषम् अहं नेयम् अस्तीति भारती ॥
droṇas tu tad vacaḥ śrutvā putrasya tava durmanāḥ ||
muhūrtam iva tu dhyātvā bhṛśam ārto 'bhyabhāṣata ||
duryodhana kim evaṃ māṃ vākśarair abhikṛntasi ||
ajayyaṃ samare nityaṃ bruvāṇaṃ savyasācinam ||
etenaivārjunaṃ jñātum alaṃ kaurava saṃyuge ||
yac chikhaṇḍy avadhīd bhīṣmaṃ pālyamānaḥ kirīṭinā ||
avadhyaṃ nihataṃ dṛṣṭvā saṃyuge devamānuṣaiḥ ||
tadaivājñāsiṣam ahaṃ neyam astīti bhāratī ||
[Sanjaya:] Drona, hearing that word of your son, distressed, having reflected for a moment, deeply grieving, spoke: "Duryodhana, why do you cut me thus with word-arrows — [me], who always called Savyasachin unconquerable in battle? By this alone it is enough, Kaurava, to know Arjuna in combat — that Shikhandin slew Bhishma, [while Bhishma was] protected by the Diademed one. Seeing the invulnerable [Bhishma] slain in combat by gods and men, then indeed I knew that the speech [prophecy] was not empty."
71f0a59ab4fc · published Jul 19, 2026, 4:31:38 PM UTC
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Drona answers not with anger but with grief: "why do you cut me with words, [me], who always spoke of Arjuna's invincibility?" It is telling that he took the fall of the invulnerable Bhishma as a sign of the inevitable. The verse teaches that a warning rejected in its hour returns as reproach to the one who gave it; and the wise man, whose words went unheeded, does not gloat in the hour of disaster, but grieves that what he foresaw has come to pass.