Shloka 18
Droṇa’s Renewed Advance toward Yudhiṣṭhira; Fall of Satyajit and Allied Recoil (द्रोणस्य युधिष्ठिरप्रेप्सा—सत्यजितः पतनम्)
नीलाञ्जनचयप्रख्यो मदान्धो द्विरदो बभौ
nīlāñjanacayaprakhyo madāndho dvirado babhau
Sañjaya said: “He appeared like a heap of dark collyrium—an elephant blinded by rut, surging forward in intoxicated fury.” The image underscores how, in war, unchecked pride and battle-madness can eclipse discernment, turning strength into a peril to all around.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse cautions that power driven by intoxication (mada)—whether literal or metaphorical—can blind judgment. In the ethical frame of the Mahābhārata, such loss of viveka (discernment) makes even great strength destructive and morally perilous.
Sañjaya reports a warrior’s terrifying appearance and momentum through a vivid simile: he looks like a mass of black collyrium and moves like a musth-elephant, frenzied and ‘blind’ with rut, conveying unstoppable, dangerous force on the battlefield.