Shloka 46
नावारयिष्य: संग्रामे न सम द्रोणो व्यनड्क्ष्यत । “उस समय यदि तुम युद्धस्थलमें सूतपुत्र आदि रथियोंको न रोकते तो रणभूमिमें द्रोणाचार्यका नाश नहीं होता ।। भवता तु बल॑ सर्व धार्तराष्ट्रस्य वारितम्
nāvārayiṣyaḥ saṅgrāme na sa droṇo vyanaṅkṣyata | “us samaya yadi tuma yuddhasthala meṃ sūtaputra ādi rathiyoṃ ko na rokate to raṇabhūmi meṃ droṇācārya kā nāśa nahīṃ hotā || bhavatā tu balaṃ sarvaṃ dhārtarāṣṭrasya vāritam”
Sanjaya said: “Had you not checked the chariot-warriors—beginning with the Sūta’s son—on the battlefield at that time, Droṇa would not have been destroyed in the war. But by you, the entire strength of the Dhārtarāṣṭras was held back.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights moral and strategic accountability: restraining or failing to restrain key warriors can determine the fall of great figures like Droṇa, and an individual’s action can effectively neutralize an entire side’s strength—linking personal agency to collective consequences in war.
Sanjaya comments that if the addressed person had not stopped the chariot-warriors led by Karṇa at a critical moment, Droṇa would not have been slain; he adds that this restraint effectively checked the full power of the Kaurava (Dhārtarāṣṭra) forces.