Дрона
यच् चापश्यं हतं भीष्मं पश्यतस् ते ऽनुजस्य वै ॥
दुःशासनस्य कौरव्य कुर्वाणं कर्म दुष्करम् ॥
अवध्यकल्पं संग्रामे देवैर् अपि सवासवैः ॥
न ते वसुंधरास्तीति तद् अहं चिन्तये नृप ॥
इमानि पाण्डवानां च सृञ्जयानां च भारत ॥
अनीकान्य् आद्रवन्ते मां सहितान्य् अद्य मारिष ॥
नाहत्वा सर्वपाञ्चालान् कवचस्य विमोक्षणम् ॥
कर्तास्मि समरे कर्म धार्तराष्ट्र हितं तव ॥
राजन् ब्रूयाः सुतं मे त्वम् अश्वत्थामानम् आहवे ॥
न सोमकाः प्रमोक्तव्या जीवितं परिरक्षता ॥
yac cāpaśyaṃ hataṃ bhīṣmaṃ paśyatas te 'nujasya vai ||
duḥśāsanasya kauravya kurvāṇaṃ karma duṣkaram ||
avadhyakalpaṃ saṃgrāme devair api savāsavaiḥ ||
na te vasuṃdharāstīti tad ahaṃ cintaye nṛpa ||
imāni pāṇḍavānāṃ ca sṛñjayānāṃ ca bhārata ||
anīkāny ādravante māṃ sahitāny adya māriṣa ||
nāhatvā sarvapāñcālān kavacasya vimokṣaṇam ||
kartāsmi samare karma dhārtarāṣṭra hitaṃ tava ||
rājan brūyāḥ sutaṃ me tvam aśvatthāmānam āhave ||
na somakāḥ pramoktavyā jīvitaṃ parirakṣatā ||
"And that I saw Bhishma slain, before the eyes of your younger brother Duhshasana, O Kauravya, performing the hardest deed — 'you have no [claim to the] earth' — so I think, O king. These [arrows] of the Pandavas and the Srinjayas, O Bharata... Without slaying all the Panchalas, I shall not remove [my] armor; I shall do in battle a deed beneficial to you, Dhartarashtra. King, tell my son Ashvatthaman in battle: 'The Somakas must not be spared by one who guards his own life.'"
ed4e5a790a2e · published Jul 19, 2026, 4:31:38 PM UTC
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Drona takes a terrible vow — not to remove his armor until the Panchalas fall: despair turns into unyielding resolve. It is telling that he commands the same to his son: "do not spare the Somakas." The verse teaches that the foresight of death does not always bring humility — in some it only hardens the resolve to one last effort; and a vow born of hopelessness drives toward further bloodshed, in which there is no longer hope of victory nor thought of mercy.