स दह्यमानो व्यथितः कुन्तीपुत्रं युधिष्ठिरम् ॥
अहतं वा हतं वेति पप्रच्छ सुतम् आत्मनः ॥
स्थिरा बुद्धिर् हि द्रोणस्य न पार्थो वक्ष्यते ऽनृतम् ॥
त्रयाणाम् अपि लोकानाम् ऐश्वर्यार्थे कथं चन ॥
तस्मात् तं परिपप्रच्छ नान्यं कं चिद् विशेषतः ॥
तस्मिंस् तस्य हि सत्याशा बाल्यात् प्रभृति पाण्डवे ॥
ततो निष्पाण्डवाम् उर्वीं करिष्यन्तं युधां पतिम् ॥
द्रोणं ज्ञात्वा धर्मराजं गोविन्दो व्यथितो ऽब्रवीत् ॥
sa dahyamāno vyathitaḥ kuntīputraṃ yudhiṣṭhiram ||
ahataṃ vā hataṃ veti papraccha sutam ātmanaḥ ||
sthirā buddhir hi droṇasya na pārtho vakṣyate 'nṛtam ||
trayāṇām api lokānām aiśvaryārthe kathaṃ cana ||
tasmāt taṃ paripapraccha nānyaṃ kaṃ cid viśeṣataḥ ||
tasmiṃs tasya hi satyāśā bālyāt prabhṛti pāṇḍave ||
tato niṣpāṇḍavām urvīṃ kariṣyantaṃ yudhāṃ patim ||
droṇaṃ jñātvā dharmarājaṃ govindo vyathito 'bravīt ||
"Is he unslain, or is he slain" — [Drona] asked about his own son. For firm was Drona's conviction that Partha [Yudhishthira] would not speak an untruth, even for the sake of the three worlds, still less for the sake of sovereignty. Therefore he asked him, and no one else: for in him lay his hope for truth, since childhood, in that Pandava. Then, recognizing Drona thus — the lord of battles, ready to strip the earth of the Pandavas — the king of dharma and Govinda, shaken, spoke: "If Drona fights for half a day, seized by wrath..."
441cb828af08 · प्रकाशित 19 जुल॰ 2026, 5:08:17 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Drona asks Yudhishthira precisely because he firmly believes the man would not lie even for the three worlds. It is telling that the righteous man's fame for truthfulness is itself the trap in which he will be caught. The verse teaches that a good name lays a heavy burden: the truthful are turned to as the last witnesses of truth; and the greater the trust in one's honesty, the more terrible the price when circumstance forces one to bend the soul.