Shloka 22

Devanagari script

द्रोणस्तु रथिन: श्रेष्ठानू सोमकान्‌ सूंजयै: सह । अभ्यधावत संक्रुद्धः प्रेषयिष्यन्‌ यमक्षयम्‌,द्रोणाचार्यने श्रेष्ठ रथी सोमकों और सूंजयोंको यमलोक भेजनेके लिये क्रोधपूर्वक उनके ऊपर धावा बोल दिया

Transliteration

droṇas tu rathinaḥ śreṣṭhān somakān sūñjayaiḥ saha | abhyadhāvat saṅkruddhaḥ preṣayiṣyan yamākṣayam ||

Translation

Sañjaya said: Drona, intent on sending the foremost chariot-warriors of the Somakas—together with the Sṛñjayas—to the abode of Yama, charged at them in wrath.

Word by Word

द्रोणःDrona

तुbut/indeed

रथिनःchariot-warriors

श्रेष्ठान्the best/excellent

सोमकान्the Somakas

सूंजयैःwith the Sṛñjayas

सहtogether with

अभ्यधावतran towards/charged at

संक्रुद्धःenraged

प्रेषयिष्यन्intending to send

यमक्षयम्to Yama's abode (realm of death)

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sanjaya

Drona (Droṇācārya)

Somakas

Sṛñjayas

Yama

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how, in the pressure of war, anger (krodha) can become a decisive motive that eclipses restraint, turning even a revered teacher into an instrument of death; it implicitly warns that ethical clarity is endangered when wrath governs action.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sanjaya reports that Drona, furious, charges the leading chariot-warriors among the Somakas and the Sṛñjayas, determined to kill them—described poetically as sending them to Yama’s realm.