Shloka 15
Śalya’s Consecration as Senāpati and Kṛṣṇa’s Counsel to Yudhiṣṭhira (शल्यस्य सेनापत्यभिषेकः)
आराध्य त्र्यम्बक॑ यत्नाद व्रतैरुग्रैमहातपा: । अयोनिजायामुत्पन्नो द्रोणेनायोनिजेन यः
ārādhya tryambakaṃ yatnād vratair ugrair mahātapāḥ | ayonijāyām utpanno droṇenāyonijena yaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “Having diligently propitiated Tryambaka (Śiva) through severe vows and austere observances, that great ascetic—he who was born from a wombless birth, and who was begotten by Droṇa himself, likewise wombless—came into being.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the traditional idea that intense discipline—severe vows and austerity—directed toward a deity (here, Śiva as Tryambaka) can yield extraordinary results. It frames exceptional power or destiny as rooted in devotion and tapas, not merely in ordinary lineage.
Sañjaya describes a figure characterized by extraordinary, non-ordinary birth (ayonija) and links that origin to rigorous worship of Śiva. The line also recalls Droṇa’s own unusual origin, emphasizing a chain of exceptional births within the unfolding war narrative.