Shloka 15
दुर्योधन-कर्ण-संवादः
Duryodhana–Karna Dialogue on Vyūha-bheda and Daiva
भरतनन्दन! ब्रह्मास्त्रका निवारण हो जानेपर बृहत्क्षत्रने सानपर चढ़ाकर तेज किये हुए सोनेके पंखोंसे युक्त साठ बाणोंद्वारा ब्राह्मण द्रोणाचार्यको वेध दिया ।। त॑ द्रोणो द्विपदां श्रेष्ठो नाराचेन समार्पयत् । स तस्य कवचं भिन्त्वा प्राविशद् धरणीतलम्,तब मनुष्योंमें श्रेष्ठ द्रोणने उनपर नाराच चलाया। वह नाराच बृहत्क्षत्रका कवच विदीर्ण करके धरतीमें समा गया
bharatanandana! brahmāstrakā nivāraṇa ho jānepara bṛhatkṣatrane sānapara caḍhākara teja kiye hue soneke paṅkhoṃse yukta sāṭha bāṇoṃdvārā brāhmaṇa droṇācāryako vedha diyā || taṃ droṇo dvipadāṃ śreṣṭho nārācena samārpayat | sa tasya kavacaṃ bhintvā prāviśad dharaṇītalam ||
Sañjaya said: “O descendant of Bharata, once the Brahmāstra had been countered, Bṛhatkṣatra—having whetted his shafts upon the stone—pierced the Brahmin teacher Droṇa with sixty arrows fitted with golden wings. Then Droṇa, best among men, answered with a nārāca; that iron-pointed missile split Bṛhatkṣatra’s armor and sank into the earth.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even when a catastrophic weapon is checked, the ethical burden of war remains: warriors revert to ordinary arms, and duty-driven retaliation continues. The verse highlights restraint (countering the Brahmāstra) alongside the inexorable momentum of combat where skill and obligation propel reciprocal violence.
After the Brahmāstra has been neutralized, Bṛhatkṣatra shoots sixty sharpened, gold-feathered arrows at Droṇa. Droṇa responds with a single nārāca that pierces Bṛhatkṣatra’s armor and passes into the ground.