Shloka 36
Droṇa’s Conditional Boon: The Plan to Capture Yudhiṣṭhira (द्रोणेन युधिष्ठिरग्रहणोपायः)
यस्य यन्ता हृषीकेशो योद्धा यस्य धनंजय: । रथस्य तस्य कः संख्ये प्रत्यनीको भवेद् रथ:,जिसके सारथि सम्पूर्ण इन्द्रियोंके नियन्ता श्रीकृष्ण तथा योद्धा अर्जुन हैं, रणभूमिमें उस रथका सामना करनेवाला दूसरा कौन रथ होगा?
yasya yantā hṛṣīkeśo yoddhā yasya dhanaṃjayaḥ | rathasya tasya kaḥ saṅkhye pratyanīko bhaved rathaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “For that chariot whose charioteer is Hṛṣīkeśa (Kṛṣṇa), the master of the senses, and whose warrior is Dhanaṃjaya (Arjuna), what other chariot in battle could ever stand as its opposing counterpart?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the ethical and spiritual idea that righteous strength guided by divine self-mastery is unconquerable: when human effort (Arjuna) is directed by the Lord who governs the senses (Kṛṣṇa as Hṛṣīkeśa), opposition loses its footing.
In the Drona Parva’s battle setting, the narrator highlights the unmatched advantage of Arjuna’s chariot because Kṛṣṇa himself drives it, implying that no enemy chariot can truly confront them on equal terms.