Shloka 11

Droṇa’s Conditional Boon: The Plan to Capture Yudhiṣṭhira (द्रोणेन युधिष्ठिरग्रहणोपायः)

Devanagari script

अमृष्यमाणा राजानो यस्य जात्या हया इव | रथे वैवाहिके युक्ता: प्रतोदेन कृतव्रणा:,कमलनयन वीर श्रीकृष्णने स्वयंवरमें गान्धारराजकी पुत्रीको प्राप्त करके समस्त राजाओंको जीतकर उसके साथ विवाह किया। उस समय अच्छी जातिके घोड़ोंकी भाँति श्रीकृष्णके वैवाहिक रथमें जुते हुए वे असहिष्णु राजालोग कोड़ोंकी मारसे घायल कर दिये गये थे इति श्रीमहाभारते द्रोणपर्वणि द्रोणाभिषेकपर्वणि धृतराष्ट्रविलापे एकादशो<ध्याय:

Transliteration

amṛṣyamāṇā rājāno yasya jātyā hayā iva | rathe vaivāhike yuktāḥ pratodena kṛtavraṇāḥ ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana dit : «Les rois, incapables de supporter l’affront, étaient tels des chevaux de noble race : attelés à son char nuptial et meurtris par le fouet de l’aiguillon.»

Word by Word

अमृष्यमाणाःunable to endure, intolerant

राजानःkings

यस्यof whom/whose

जात्याby breed, by kind

हयाःhorses

इवlike, as if

रथेin/on the chariot

वैवाहिकेwedding(-related), nuptial

युक्ताःyoked, harnessed, joined

प्रतोदेनwith a goad/whip

कृतव्रणाःmade-wounded, having wounds inflicted

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

kings (rājānaḥ)

wedding chariot (vaivāhika ratha)

horses (hayāḥ)

goad/whip (pratoda)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how wounded honor and resentment arise from coercive victory; humiliation does not end conflict but often becomes the seed of future hostility, a recurring ethical warning in the Mahābhārata’s portrayal of kṣatriya politics.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana describes rival kings who, unable to tolerate defeat, are metaphorically compared to high-bred horses harnessed to a wedding chariot and struck with a goad—an image of subjugation and injury that underscores their simmering anger.