Shloka 163
Droṇa’s Withdrawal, Death, and the Kaurava Rout (द्रोणनिधन-प्रसङ्गः)
नरेन्द्र! जैसे शरत्कालमें मध्याह्नका सूर्य अपनी प्रखर किरणोंसे भारी संताप देता है, उसी प्रकार उस युद्धस्थलमें महान् अग्निके समान तेजस्वी महामना विप्रवर द्रोणाचार्य पाण्डवोंके लिये संतापकारी हो रहे थे ।। इति श्रीमहाभारते द्रोणपर्वणि घटोत्कचवधपर्वणि रात्रियुद्धे दीपोद्योतने त्रिषष्ट्यधिकशततमो<ध्याय:
narendra! yathā śaratkāle madhyāhna-sūryaḥ sva-prakhara-kiraṇaiḥ bhāri santāpaṃ dadāti, tathā tasmin yuddha-sthale mahān agnir iva tejasvī mahāmanā vipra-varaḥ droṇācāryaḥ pāṇḍavān prati santāpa-kārī babhūva.
Sañjaya said: “O king, just as the midday sun in the autumn season, with its fierce rays, causes intense heat, so on that battlefield the radiant Droṇācārya—great-souled, foremost among Brahmins—became for the Pāṇḍavas a source of burning distress, like a mighty fire.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how extraordinary brilliance (tejas) in war can become a source of suffering when directed toward harm. It implicitly raises an ethical tension: noble qualities and high status (mahāmanā, vipra-vara) do not prevent one’s actions in battle from causing intense distress to others.
Sañjaya describes to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra the overwhelming impact of Droṇācārya on the battlefield. Using the image of the scorching autumn midday sun and a great fire, he conveys that Droṇa’s martial power is severely afflicting the Pāṇḍavas during the fighting.