Shloka 68
द्रोणवध-प्रश्नः
Droṇa’s Fall: Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Inquiry
योधाश्व भद्रकाराश्न शरदण्डानुदण्डय: । श्वेताण्डा: कुक्कुटाण्डाभा दण्डकेतुं हया&वहन्,युद्ध करनेमें समर्थ, कल्याणमय कार्य करनेवाले, सरकण्डेके समान श्वैत- गौर पीठवाले, श्वेत अण्डकोशधारी तथा मुर्गीके अण्डेके समान सफेद घोड़े दण्डकेतुको युद्धस्थलमें ले गये
sañjaya uvāca | yodhāśva-bhadrakārāś ca śarad-daṇḍānudaṇḍayaḥ | śvetāṇḍāḥ kukkuṭāṇḍābhā daṇḍaketuṃ hayā avahan ||
قال سنجيا: إنّ الخيول المدرَّبة للحرب—الميمونة في خدمتها—كانت ظهورها بيضاء شاحبة كالقَصَب، وعليها سماتٌ ناصعة كبياض زلال البيض؛ وبعضها يلمع كبياض بيض الدجاج، وقد حملت دَنْدَكيتو إلى ساحة القتال.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the Mahābhārata’s tendency to frame even war’s machinery within a moral-aesthetic lens: the horses are described as auspicious and well-formed, suggesting order, discipline, and the sense of duty that carries fighters into battle, even amid violence.
Sañjaya narrates that Daṇḍaketu is being borne into the battle by striking white horses, described with vivid comparisons (reed-like whiteness and egg-like sheen), emphasizing their readiness and the grandeur of the martial scene.