सारथिं चास्य विंशत्या स्वर्णपुङ्खैः शिलाशितैः ॥
हयांश् च चतुरो ऽविध्यच् चतुर्भिर् निशितैः शरैः ॥
विद्ध्वा विद्ध्वानदद् द्रौणिः कम्पयन्न् इव मेदिनीम् ॥
आददत् सर्वलोकस्य प्राणान् इव महारणे ॥
पार्षतस् तु बली राजन् कृतास्त्रः कृतनिश्रमः ॥
द्रौणिम् एवाभिदुद्राव कृत्वा मृत्युं निवर्तनम् ॥
sārathiṃ cāsya viṃśatyā svarṇapuṅkhaiḥ śilāśitaiḥ ||
hayāṃś ca caturo 'vidhyac caturbhir niśitaiḥ śaraiḥ ||
viddhvā viddhvānadad drauṇiḥ kampayann iva medinīm ||
ādadat sarvalokasya prāṇān iva mahāraṇe ||
pārṣatas tu balī rājan kṛtāstraḥ kṛtaniśramaḥ ||
drauṇim evābhidudrāva kṛtvā mṛtyuṃ nivartanam ||
And his charioteer with twenty golden-feathered arrows honed on stone, and the four horses he pierced with four sharp arrows. Piercing again and again, Drauni roared, as if shaking the earth, as if seizing the lives of the whole world in the great battle. Parshata, however, mighty, O king, skilled in weapons, untiring, charged straight at Drauni, making death his only retreat [ready to die rather than withdraw].
909f7d037201 · प्रकाशित 19 जुल॰ 2026, 5:12:46 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Dhrishtadyumna advances on Ashvatthaman "making death his only retreat": he is ready to fall rather than turn back. This resolve is telling -- he cuts off his own path of retreat, leaving only victory or death. The verse teaches that true resolve leaves itself no escape route; and one who has made death his only retreat gains a terrible freedom -- but even that freedom, born of enmity, leads only to a further turn of the wheel of destruction.