Shloka 59
Yudhiṣṭhira–Droṇa Saṃgrāma
Engagement and Countermeasures
हन्त्रे गोप्ज्रे त्रिनेत्राय व्याधाय वसुरेतसे । अचिन्त्यायाम्बिकाभत्रे सर्वदेवस्तुताय च,विशेष लोहित एवं धूम्रवर्णवाले, मृगव्याधस्वरूप, समस्त प्राणियोंको पराजित करनेवाले, सर्वदा नीलकेश धारण करनेवाले, त्रिशूलधारी, दिव्यलोचन, संहारक, पालक, त्रिनेत्रधारी, पापरूपी मृगोंके बधिक, हिरण्यरेता (अग्नि), अचिन्त्य, अम्बिकापति, सम्पूर्ण देवताओंद्वारा प्रशंसित, वृषभ-चिह्नसे युक्त ध्वजा धारण करनेवाले, मुण्डित मस्तक, जटाधारी, ब्रह्मचारी, जलमें तप करनेवाले, ब्राह्मणभक्त, अपराजित, विश्वात्मा, विश्वस्रष्टा, विश्वको व्याप्त करके स्थित, सबके सेवन करनेयोग्य तथा सदा समस्त प्राणियोंकी उत्पत्तिके कारणभूत आप भगवान् शिवको बारंबार नमस्कार है
sañjaya uvāca | hantre goptre trinetrāya vyādhāya vasuretase | acintyāyāmbikābhartre sarvadevastutāya ca ||
Sañjaya said: “Salutations to Śiva again and again—who is at once the slayer and the protector; the three-eyed Lord; the hunter who destroys the ‘beasts’ of sin; the one of golden seed/energy (radiant like fire); the inconceivable One; the consort of Ambikā; and the One praised by all the gods.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents Śiva as the unity of opposites—destroyer and protector—implying that righteous destruction (the removal of adharma) is inseparable from protection of the cosmic order. In a war setting, it ethically reframes violence: force is legitimate only when it serves dharma and curbs evil.
Sañjaya recites a brief Śiva-stuti (praise hymn), invoking Śiva’s epithets—three-eyed, hunter of sin, consort of Ambikā, praised by the gods—amid the Drona Parva’s battlefield events, to mark divine oversight and to seek protection and right outcome in the unfolding conflict.