Shloka 53
Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 96: Sātyaki’s Line-Penetration, Encirclement, and Advance toward Arjuna
रक्ष्या मे सततं देवा: सहेन्द्रा: सद्विजातय:ः । त्वष्ट: सुदुर्धरं तेजो येन वृत्रो विनिर्मितः,“देवताओ! इन्द्र आदि देवता और ब्राह्मण सदा ही मेरे रक्षणीय हैं। परंतु वृत्रासुरका जिससे निर्माण हुआ है, वह त्वष्टा प्रजापतिका अत्यन्त दुर्धर्ष तेज है
sañjaya uvāca | rakṣyā me satataṃ devāḥ sahendrāḥ sadvijātayaḥ | tvaṣṭā sudurdharaṃ tejo yena vṛtro vinirmitaḥ |
Sañjaya said: “The gods—together with Indra—and the twice-born (Brahmins) are ever to be protected by me. Yet Tvaṣṭṛ, whose exceedingly unassailable brilliance brought Vṛtra into being, possesses a formidable power.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds a dharmic hierarchy of protection: gods (with Indra) and Brahmins are to be safeguarded, while also acknowledging that spiritual potency (tejas)—even when associated with a fearsome outcome like Vṛtra’s creation—can be extraordinarily difficult to oppose.
Sañjaya reports a statement that affirms loyalty to the devas and the twice-born, then invokes the well-known myth of Tvaṣṭṛ creating Vṛtra to illustrate the presence of an overwhelming, hard-to-resist power (tejas) behind certain formidable forces.