Shloka 29

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

Devanagari script

एते<न्ये बलवन्तश्न वृष्णिवीरा: प्रहारिण: । कथंचित्‌ पाण्डवानीकं श्रयेयु: समरे स्थिता:

Transliteration

ete 'nye balavantaś ca vṛṣṇivīrāḥ prahāriṇaḥ | kathaṃcit pāṇḍavānīkaṃ śrayeyuḥ samare sthitāḥ ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana dit : «Ces autres aussi — héros vṛṣṇis, puissants et rompus aux coups —, une fois debout dans la mêlée, pourront peut-être, d’une manière ou d’une autre, trouver refuge en se joignant à l’armée des Pāṇḍava.»

Word by Word

एतेthese

अन्येother

बलवन्तःstrong, powerful

चand

वृष्णिवीराःheroes of the Vṛṣṇis

प्रहारिणःstrikers, assailants

कथंचित्somehow, by some means

पाण्डवानीकम्the Pāṇḍava army

श्रयेयुःmight take refuge in / might resort to

समरेin battle

स्थिताःstanding, stationed

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Vṛṣṇi warriors

Pāṇḍava army (Pāṇḍavānīka)

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 the fluidity of wartime alignments: even powerful fighters may, under pressure or prudence, seek protection by attaching themselves to a stronger or more secure force. Ethically, it points to the tension between steadfast loyalty and the instinct for survival within the dharma of battle.

What is happening in the narrative?

The narrator (Vaiśampāyana) remarks that other formidable Vṛṣṇi heroes, skilled in combat, could—once positioned on the battlefield—somehow come to rely upon or join the Pāṇḍava battle-host, implying a possible shift or consolidation of forces amid the fighting.