Mahabharata 11.25.21 — Stree Parva, Adhyaya 25, Shloka 21
स्त्री-विलापः — गान्धार्याः रणभूमिदर्शनं शापवचनं च
Battlefield Lament and Gāndhārī’s Curse
द्रोणास्त्रमभिहत्यैष विमर्दे मधुसूदन । महेष्वासो हतः शेते नद्या हत इव द्रुम:
droṇāstram abhihatya eṣa vimarde madhusūdana | maheṣvāso hataḥ śete nadyā hata iva drumaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana sprach: „O Madhusūdana, im Gedränge der Schlacht hat dieser große Bogenschütze die Waffe Droṇas niedergerungen und liegt nun erschlagen da — wie ein Baum, den die Gewalt der Flussströmung gefällt hat.“
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the impermanence of martial glory and the ethical bleakness of war: even after a feat such as neutralizing a famed weapon, the warrior’s end is sudden and final, likened to a tree swept down by a river—powerful, yet ultimately helpless before larger forces.
Vaiśampāyana describes to the listener (addressing Kṛṣṇa as Madhusūdana) that a renowned archer, after countering Droṇa’s weapon in the thick of battle, has been killed and now lies fallen, compared to a tree cut down by a river’s current.
Ask anything about this verse
Curious about the meaning, context, or a word? Ask, and continue the conversation in the Vedapath app.
A free Google sign-in keeps your chat saved across web and the app.
Read Mahabharata in the Vedapath app
Scan the QR code to open this directly in the app, with audio, word-by-word meanings, and more.