Shloka 11
द्रोणाभिमुखानां निवारण-युद्धम् / Interceptions on the Droṇa-front
समनुप्राप्तकृच्छोी 5हं मोहं परममागत: । भीष्मद्रोणौ हतीौ श्रुत्वा नाहं जीवितुमुत्सहे,मुझपर महान् संकट आ पहुँचा है। मेरी बुद्धिपर अत्यन्त मोह छा गया है। मैं भीष्म और द्रोणाचार्यको मारा गया सुनकर जीवित नहीं रह सकता
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca | samanupprāptakṛcchro 'haṃ mohaṃ paramam āgataḥ | bhīṣmadroṇau hatāv iti śrutvā nāhaṃ jīvitum utsahe ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “A grievous calamity has overtaken me, and I have fallen into the deepest delusion. Hearing that Bhīṣma and Droṇa have been slain, I no longer have the will to go on living.”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how attachment and moral blindness (moha) collapse a ruler’s inner strength when the consequences of war arrive. Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s despair underscores the ethical cost of enabling adharma: when elders and teachers fall, grief is intensified by the awareness—explicit or implicit—of one’s complicity.
In the Droṇa Parva, Dhṛtarāṣṭra receives news that the great elders Bhīṣma and Droṇa have been killed. Overwhelmed by calamity and delusion, he tells Sañjaya that he cannot bear to live after hearing of their deaths.