Shloka 17
Jayadrathasya śoka-bhaya-vilāpaḥ — Droṇena āśvāsanaṃ ca
Jayadratha’s lament and Droṇa’s reassurance
अतः इनके विषयमें “मृत” शब्द सार्थक हो रहा है। ये भयंकर पराक्रमी भूमिपाल प्राय: “मर गये” कहे जाते हैं ।। निश्चेष्टा निरभीमाना: शूरा: शत्रुवशंगता: । राजपुत्राश्व संरब्धा वैश्वानरमुखं गता:,ये शूरवीर राजकुमार चेष्टा और अभिमानसे रहित हो शत्रुओंके अधीन हो गये थे। वे कुपित होकर बाणोंकी आगमें कूद पड़े थे
niśceṣṭā nirabhīmānāḥ śūrāḥ śatruvaśaṅgatāḥ | rājaputrāś ca saṃrabdhā vaiśvānaramukhaṃ gatāḥ ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “Thus, in their case, the word ‘dead’ becomes truly apt. Those heroes, stripped of all movement and pride, had fallen under the enemy’s control. The royal princes, inflamed with wrath, rushed into the very mouth of Vaiśvānara—into the fire of arrows—so that they are, in effect, spoken of as ‘dead.’”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how, in war, loss of agency and subjugation can render even the brave effectively ‘dead’ in social and moral reckoning; wrath-driven plunges into destruction (likened to entering the mouth of fire) show how anger accelerates ruin and eclipses discernment.
Yudhiṣṭhira describes warriors—especially royal princes—who have become powerless under enemy domination; enraged, they rush into lethal danger, metaphorically entering the mouth of Vaiśvānara (the consuming fire), i.e., the blazing ‘fire’ of weapons, and thus are spoken of as dead.