क्षुत्पिपासापरिश्रान्तास् ते योधास् तव भारत ॥
आदित्येन च संतप्ता भृशं विमनसो ऽभवन् ॥
भास्करस्येव पतनं समुद्रस्येव शोषणम् ॥
विपर्यासं यथा मेरोर् वासवस्येव निर्जयम् ॥
अमर्षणीयं तद् दृष्ट्वा भारद्वाजस्य पातनम् ॥
त्रस्तरूपतरा राजन् कौरवाः प्राद्रवन् भयात् ॥
kṣutpipāsāpariśrāntās te yodhās tava bhārata ||
ādityena ca saṃtaptā bhṛśaṃ vimanaso 'bhavan ||
bhāskarasyeva patanaṃ samudrasyeva śoṣaṇam ||
viparyāsaṃ yathā meror vāsavasyeva nirjayam ||
amarṣaṇīyaṃ tad dṛṣṭvā bhāradvājasya pātanam ||
trastarūpatarā rājan kauravāḥ prādravan bhayāt ||
Exhausted by hunger and thirst, those warriors of yours, O Bharata, and scorched by the sun, fell deeply into dejection. As if the sun had fallen, as if the ocean had dried up, as if Meru were overturned, as if Vasava [Indra] were defeated -- seeing this unbearable fall of the son of Bharadvaja, yet more terrified in appearance, O king, the Kauravas fled in fear.
7422dca84bff · published Jul 19, 2026, 5:08:17 PM UTC
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Drona's death is set among a series of cosmic impossibilities -- the sun falling, the ocean drying, Meru overthrown: what seemed unshakable has fallen. It is telling that bodily torment is mixed with the grief -- hunger, thirst, heat: spirit and flesh are broken together. The verse teaches that even what seems eternal is subject to Time; and one who stakes hope on the "unshakable" in this world will one day see it too collapse -- so refuge must be sought in what does not pass away.