Shloka 62
Bhagadatta’s Advance, the Saṃśaptaka Challenge, and Arjuna’s Counterstrike (द्रोणपर्व, अध्याय २६)
नियन्तुः शिल्पयत्नाभ्यां प्रेरितोडरिशरार्दित: । परिचिक्षेप तान् नाग: स रिपून् सव्यदक्षिणम्,महावतके कौशल और प्रयत्नसे प्रेरित होकर वह हाथी शत्रुओंके बाणोंसे पीड़ित होनेपर भी उन विपक्षियोंको दायें-बायें उठाकर फेंकने लगा
niyantuḥ śilpa-yatnābhyāṃ prerito dari-śarārditaḥ | paricikṣepa tān nāgaḥ sa ripūn savya-dakṣiṇam ||
Sañjaya said: Though tormented by the enemy’s arrows, the great war-elephant—urged on by its driver’s practiced skill and determined effort—began to seize those foes and hurl them to the left and to the right.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights disciplined training (śilpa) and resolute effort (yatna) as forces that sustain action even under pain; in the ethical frame of the epic’s battlefield, steadfast execution of one’s role—here, the mahout guiding the elephant—enables endurance amid adversity.
Sañjaya describes a war-elephant, wounded by enemy arrows, being driven forward by its mahout’s skill and effort; the elephant then lifts and flings the opposing warriors to both sides, intensifying the chaos and force of the battle.