Shloka 17
द्रोणकर्णयोः निशि संप्रहारः — Night Engagement with Droṇa and Karṇa
दैवेनोपहत: पार्थो विपरीतश्च मानद । कार्याकार्यमजानान: प्रतिज्ञां कृतवान् रणे,“मानद! दैवके मारे हुए अर्जुनकी बुद्धि विपरीत हो गयी थी। इसीलिये कर्तव्य और अकर्तव्यका विचार न करके उन्होंने रणभूमिमें जयद्रथको मारनेकी प्रतिज्ञा कर ली ततो युगान्ताभ्रसमस्वनं मह- न्महेन्द्रचापप्रतिमं च गाण्डिवम् । चकर्ष दोर्भ्या विहसन् भृशं ययौ दहंस्त्वदीयान् यमराष्ट्रवर्धन:
sañjaya uvāca |
daivenopahataḥ pārtho viparītaś ca mānada |
kāryākāryam ajānānaḥ pratijñāṃ kṛtavān raṇe |
tato yugāntābhrasamasvanaṃ maha-
mahendracāpapratimaṃ ca gāṇḍīvam |
cakarṣa dorbhyā vihasan bhṛśaṃ yayau
dahaṃs tvadīyān yamarāṣṭravardhanaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “O bestower of honor, Pārtha (Arjuna), struck down by fate and with his judgment turned awry, made a vow on the battlefield without discerning what ought to be done and what ought not: to slay Jayadratha. Then, laughing loudly, he drew with his arms the great Gāṇḍīva—resounding like the clouds at the end of an age and comparable to the bow of mighty Indra—and he advanced, burning down your warriors, increasing the realm of Yama (the lord of death).”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how intense grief and the pressure of fate can distort discernment (kārya vs. akārya), leading even a righteous hero to bind himself by a battlefield vow; it implicitly warns that ethical clarity is most vulnerable under emotional shock.
Sañjaya tells Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Arjuna, overwhelmed and judgment-reversed, has made a vow in battle (in context, to slay Jayadratha). He then draws the thunderous Gāṇḍīva like Indra’s bow and advances fiercely, cutting down the Kaurava forces—thus ‘increasing Yama’s realm’ by sending many to death.