Shloka 16
Adhyāya 160: Arjuna’s Envoy-Message—Critique of Borrowed Valor and Pre-dawn Mobilization
द्रोणं महाद्युतिं पार्थ जेतुमिच्छसि तन्मृषा । न हि शुश्रुम वातेन मेरुमुन्मथितं गिरिम्,“आचार्य द्रोण ब्राह्मवेद और धरनुर्वेद दोनोंके पारंगत पण्डित हैं। वे युद्धका भार वहन करनेमें समर्थ, अक्षोभ्य, सेनाके मध्यमें विचरनेवाले तथा संग्रामभूमिसे कभी पीछे न हटनेवाले हैं। पार्थ! तुम उन्हीं महातेजस्वी द्रोणको जो जीतनेकी इच्छा करते हो, वह व्यर्थ दुःसाहस-मात्र है। वायुने कभी सुमेरु पर्वतको उखाड़ फेंका हो, यह कभी हमारे सुननेमें नहीं आया
droṇaṃ mahādyutiṃ pārtha jetum icchasi tan mṛṣā | na hi śuśruma vātena merum unmathitaṃ girim ||
Ulūka said: “Pārtha, your wish to conquer Droṇa, that man of blazing splendor, is a delusion. We have never heard of the wind uprooting Mount Meru; so too is the attempt to shake Droṇa from his steadfastness in battle.”
उलूक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a cosmic simile—wind cannot uproot Meru—to assert Droṇa’s near-immovability in battle, illustrating how reputation and perceived invincibility are deployed to discourage an opponent and magnify a warrior’s moral-psychological presence on the battlefield.
Ulūka, speaking as a messenger aligned with the Kauravas, addresses Arjuna (Pārtha) and attempts to intimidate him by declaring that trying to defeat Droṇa is futile, likening such an attempt to the impossible feat of the wind uprooting Mount Meru.