Shloka 18
दुर्योधन-कर्ण-संवादः
Duryodhana–Karna Dialogue on Vyūha-bheda and Daiva
द्रोणं विव्याध सप्तत्या स्वर्णपुड्खै: शिलाशितै: । सारथिं चास्य बाणेन भृशं मर्मस्वताडयत्,उन्होंने सानपर चढ़ाकर तेज किये हुए सुवर्ण-पंखयुक्त सत्तर बाणोंसे द्रोणाचार्यको बींध डाला और एक बाणद्धारा उनके सारथिके मर्मस्थानोंमें गहरी चोट पहुँचायी
sañjaya uvāca | droṇaṃ vivyādha saptatyā svarṇapuḍkhaiḥ śilāśitaiḥ | sārathiṃ cāsya bāṇena bhṛśaṃ marmasvatāḍayat |
قال سنجيا: لقد طعن دروناآتشاريّا بسبعين سهماً ذوات ريشٍ ذهبيٍّ صُقِلَت حدّتُها على الحجر. ثم بسهمٍ آخر ضرب سائقَ مركبةِ درونا ضرباً شديداً في المواضع القاتلة.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how mastery and determination in war can become morally stark: technical excellence (stone-honed, golden-fletched arrows; targeting marmas) is ethically neutral and gains its moral color from intent and context. It also underscores the tragic widening of violence, where even non-heroic attendants like charioteers are drawn into lethal harm.
In Sañjaya’s battlefield report, an unnamed warrior (contextually, a combatant opposing Droṇa) shoots Droṇācārya with seventy sharpened, golden-fletched arrows and then strikes Droṇa’s charioteer with another arrow, hitting vital points and causing severe injury.