Shloka 43
Droṇa’s Conditional Boon: The Plan to Capture Yudhiṣṭhira (द्रोणेन युधिष्ठिरग्रहणोपायः)
युगस्येव विपर्यासो लोकानामिव मोहनम्
yugasy eva viparyāso lokānām iva mohanam
Vaiśampāyana dit : « C’était comme si l’ordre même de l’âge avait été renversé — un enchantement qui égarait les peuples. En cet instant, ce qui devait être clair devint confus, et le monde sembla saisi par l’illusion, comme si le dharma et le juste discernement étaient éclipsés par le tumulte de la guerre. »
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how extreme violence and collective passion can invert moral and social order: discernment (viveka) is clouded, and people fall into moha (delusion). It warns that when dharma is obscured, society experiences a yuga-like reversal where right and wrong appear confused.
Vaiśampāyana, as narrator, describes the battlefield situation in Drona Parva as producing a world-upending effect—events unfold with such intensity that it feels like an age has turned upside down, leaving people stunned and bewildered.