Shloka 11
Jayadrathasya śoka-bhaya-vilāpaḥ — Droṇena āśvāsanaṃ ca
Jayadratha’s lament and Droṇa’s reassurance
अनतिक्रमणीयो वै विधिरेष युधिष्छिर । देवदानवगन्धर्वान् मृत्युर्हदरति भारत
anatikramaṇīyo vai vidhireṣa yudhiṣṭhira | devadānavagandharvān mṛtyur harati bhārata ||
Vyāsa said: “O Yudhiṣṭhira, this ordinance of fate is truly not to be overstepped. Death carries off even gods, Dānavas, and Gandharvas—O Bhārata.”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches the inevitability of death and the unbreakable ordinance of destiny (vidhi): even exalted beings like gods and celestial classes are not beyond mortality. Ethically, it urges steadiness and acceptance amid grief, especially in the aftermath of war.
Vyāsa addresses Yudhiṣṭhira in the Drona Parva, offering counsel meant to steady him. In the war’s tragic setting, he reminds Yudhiṣṭhira that loss is governed by an unavoidable cosmic order, and that death spares no class of beings.