Shloka 20

Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 125: Duryodhana’s despair and vow after Jayadratha’s fall (जयद्रथवधे दुर्योधनविलापः)

Devanagari script

हत्वा पञज्चशतान्‌ योधान्‌ शरैराशीविषोपमै:

Transliteration

hatvā pañcaśatān yodhān śarair āśīviṣopamaiḥ

Translation

Sañjaya said: Having slain five hundred warriors with arrows like venomous serpents, he left the battlefield strewn with the fallen.

Word by Word

• हत्वा: having slain
• Type: Verb
• Root: हन् (√हन्)
• Form: क्त्वा (absolutive/gerund), parasmaipada (usage), indeclinable (no person/number)

• पञ्चशतान्: five hundred
• पञ्चशतान्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: पञ्चशत (पञ्च + शत)
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• योधान्: warriors
• योधान्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: योध
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• शरैः: with arrows
• शरैः: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: शर
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Plural

• आशीविषोपमैः: like venomous serpents
• आशीविषोपमैः: Karana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: आशीविषोपम (आशीविष + उपम)
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Plural

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• warriors (yodhāḥ)
• arrows (śarāḥ)
• venomous serpents (āśīviṣāḥ)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the terrifying efficiency of martial skill: weapons can act with the suddenness and inevitability of poison. In the Mahābhārata’s ethical frame, such prowess is not celebrated without remainder; it intensifies the tension between kṣatriya-duty in war and the human cost that accrues as karmic and moral burden.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports a moment of extreme slaughter on the battlefield: a single combatant (implied by context) kills five hundred warriors using arrows described as ‘like venomous serpents,’ emphasizing speed, deadliness, and the panic such an assault creates among troops.