Shloka 18
कर्णसेनापत्यारम्भः — Karṇa’s Appointment and the Report to Dhṛtarāṣṭra
Chapter 1
जनमेजय उवाच आपगेय॑ हत॑ श्रुत्वा द्रोणं चापि महारथम् । आजगाम परामर्ति वृद्धो राजाम्बिकासुत:
Janamejaya uvāca: āpageyaṁ hataṁ śrutvā droṇaṁ cāpi mahāratham | ājagāma parāmarti vṛddho rājāmbikāsutaḥ ||
Janamejaya said: “O Brahmin, when the aged king Dhṛtarāṣṭra—son of Ambikā—heard that Bhīṣma, the son of the Gaṅgā, had been slain, and that Droṇa too, that great chariot-warrior, had fallen, he was overwhelmed by intense anguish.”
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the human cost of war: even a king is shaken by sorrow when confronted with the fall of revered elders and teachers. It implicitly warns that attachment and dynastic conflict can culminate in irreversible loss, testing one’s steadiness and sense of dharma.
Janamejaya asks about Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s reaction after hearing that Bhīṣma (Gaṅgā’s son) and Droṇa, both foremost warriors and leaders, had been killed. The news brings overwhelming anguish to the aged king.