Shloka 48
तत्पश्चात् द्रोणकुमार धनुष त्यागकर रथसे कूद पड़ा और “धिक्कार है! धिककार है!! यह सब मिथ्या है' ऐसा कहकर वह रणभूमिसे वेगपूर्वक भाग चला ।। ततः स्निग्धाम्बुदाभासं वेदावासमकल्मषम् | वेदव्यासं सरस्वत्यावासं व्यासं ददर्श ह,इतनेमेंही उसे स्निग्ध मेघके समान श्याम कान्तिवाले, वेद और सरस्वतीके आवास- स्थान तथा वेदोंका विस्तार करनेवाले, पापशून्य महर्षि व्यास वहाँ दिखायी दिये
tataḥ paścāt droṇakumāro dhanuḥ tyaktvā rathāt kūdāṃ papāta, “dhik-kāraḥ! dhik-kāraḥ! idaṃ sarvaṃ mithyā” iti uktvā sa raṇabhūmeḥ vegapūrvakaṃ palāyām āsa. tataḥ snigdhāmbudābhāsaṃ vedāvāsam akalmaṣam | vedavyāsaṃ sarasvatyāvāsaṃ vyāsaṃ dadarśa ha ||
After that, Droṇa’s son cast aside his bow, leapt down from his chariot, and crying, “Shame! Shame! All this is false,” fled swiftly from the battlefield. Just then he beheld the sage Vyāsa—dark-hued like a dense rain-cloud, stainless in sin, the very abode of the Vedas and of Sarasvatī, and the expander and arranger of Vedic knowledge—standing there before him.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a crisis of meaning in violent conflict: when one’s actions appear hollow or morally unbearable (“all this is false”), the corrective is not further rage but the encounter with higher discernment—symbolized by Vyāsa, the stainless authority of sacred knowledge. It suggests that ethical clarity and truth are sought through wisdom and guidance, especially when the mind collapses under guilt, fear, or disillusionment.
Aśvatthāmā (Droṇa’s son) throws away his bow, jumps down from his chariot, condemns the situation as shameful and futile, and runs from the battlefield. At that moment he sees the sage Vyāsa, described with reverence as cloud-dark, pure, and the living seat of Vedic and Sarasvatī’s knowledge—setting up a pivotal encounter between a distressed warrior and a seer.