Shloka 16
Adhyāya 160: Arjuna’s Envoy-Message—Critique of Borrowed Valor and Pre-dawn Mobilization
द्रोणं महाद्युतिं पार्थ जेतुमिच्छसि तन्मृषा । न हि शुश्रुम वातेन मेरुमुन्मथितं गिरिम्
droṇaṃ mahādyutiṃ pārtha jetum icchasi tan mṛṣā | na hi śuśruma vātena merum unmathitaṃ girim ||
Ulūka sprach: „Pārtha, dein Wunsch, Droṇa, den Mann von loderndem Glanz, zu besiegen, ist ein Trugbild. Nie haben wir gehört, dass der Wind den Berg Meru aus seinen Wurzeln riss; ebenso ist es vergeblich, Droṇas Standhaftigkeit im Kampf zu erschüttern.“
उलूक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a cosmic simile—wind cannot uproot Meru—to assert Droṇa’s near-immovability in battle, illustrating how reputation and perceived invincibility are deployed to discourage an opponent and magnify a warrior’s moral-psychological presence on the battlefield.
Ulūka, speaking as a messenger aligned with the Kauravas, addresses Arjuna (Pārtha) and attempts to intimidate him by declaring that trying to defeat Droṇa is futile, likening such an attempt to the impossible feat of the wind uprooting Mount Meru.